


The Study

by gubernaculum



Series: The Namesakes [17]
Category: Highlander: The Series, Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-09-21 05:46:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 42,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9534302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gubernaculum/pseuds/gubernaculum
Summary: Alien abduction isn't real... is it?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing. I'm only borrowing everything purely for non-profit and completely recreational purposes. The characters of Miranda Ryan, Joseph Fischer, Henry Fitzroy, Ethan Donovan, Alicia Richards, Ben Murphy, Kiernan Davies, Shawn Graham and Ashley Greenfield are my own. I have cast them as Zhang Ziyi, Jesse Spencer, Alex Pettyfer, Ben Affleck, Emily Bett Rickards, Jonah Hill, Eddie Redmayne, Will Smith and Julia Stiles respectively. This fic is unbeta'd and therefore probably full of grammatical and typographical errors. Writing is purely a hobby for me. I am an American and have attempted to do my own Britpicking so I apologize for any errors there as well. I am just borrowing Highlander concepts and names so it won't line up well with that show's canon. This is also AU for Torchwood as I like to pretend CoE and Miracle Day never happened.

Ianto tugged his coat and lifted his silver tray. Setting it down at the end of the table, he began distributing the team's coffee. Sometimes the fates smiled upon the Torchwood team. There had been a lull in rift activity for the past week. Everyone was enjoying the downtime, eating breakfast together at the boardroom table.

With a bemused look on his face, he set a glass of grapefruit juice and a mug of steaming coffee down in front of Captain Hart. Then, he took his own seat to eat his breakfast. Immediately, Hart pushed the mug towards his wife, even though she already had a mug of her own. His face twisted with disgust. The fifty-first century man had yet to partake of the brew, but Ianto had the foreknowledge that Hart's will would eventually crumble. It was only a matter of time. The mystery surrounding when and why provided Ianto with tickling anticipation.

The wrinkle above Hart’s nose deepened, and exasperated, he said, “Eye Candy, why do you keep making that toxic stuff if you know I'm going to say no? Wasteful. The body's a temple.”

“Yours is more like a bloody amusement park,” Gwen sneered. It was an oxymoron how Hart continued to claim coffee as a toxic substance, whilst pumping all manner of illicit drugs into his system. She took a sip of her own coffee, and rolled her eyes. “It's just coffee. Last week, you showed up to that night rift alert completely stoned!”

“You lot outlaw the wrong kinds of substances in this century,” Hart said, rolling his eyes.

“Caffeine is illegal in the fifty-first century?” Ianto asked, both eyebrows raising. "Well, that's certainly put a dampener on my immortality."

“It's not illegal,” Hart replied.

“The quantities in beverages and food are limited by law,” Jack replied.

“How limited?” Gwen asked.

Jack frowned pensively, looking into his own cup. “No idea.”

“Those energy drinks everyone's so keen on these days wouldn't be legal, that's for sure. I think it's probably half of what's in a cup of coffee. Ten? Maybe twenty milligrams? But I don't remember the exact amounts either,” Hart replied. He smirked at Jack’s cup then winked at his former partner, “But when in New, New Rome, eh, Jack?”

Ianto’s eyebrows raised higher. “There’s sixty in one cup, on average. More in Jack’s industrial strength.”

"How do you know that?" Hart asked.

As always when Hart asked him, Ianto replied, "I know everything."

Miranda smirked. Hart regularly displayed ignorance of pop culture references, twenty-first century colloquialisms, science, and technology. Ianto's naturally eidetic memory astounded Hart. The ability was almost unheard of in the fifty-first century. When someone needed a better memory, they enhanced it with technology.

Jack gave Hart a smile and took a sip after saluting him with the mug. “The stuff’s harmless, John.”

“Says the immortal. The cardiovascular damage? The stress on the kidneys? The neurotransmitter fluctuations?” Hart complained. He shook his head. “No thanks. Not to mention what it does to you when you try to stop.”

“Just causes a bit of a headache,” Gwen said, shrugging.

“Yeah, you know why?” Hart held out his hand, counting off points on his fingers. “Because the blood vessels in your brain are all wonky, your hydration is fucked, and your brain chemistry is unbalanced.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Suppose booze is illegal too.”

“Alcohol’s fine, but nicotine’s illegal,” Jack replied.

“Well thank God for that,” Gwen said. “Bloody awful stuff that is.”

"Caffeine and nicotine are the same really," Hart insisted, but Gwen rolled her eyes. “You can still find tobacco on the outer colonies grown for medicinal use. Sometimes it filters into the central planets illegally. Tobacco's not a highly used substances. There are better drugs out there.” He took a deep sip of his grapefruit juice. He let out an appreciative sigh.

Gwen winced at the juice. “How can you drink that stuff and turn down Ianto’s coffee?”

“Your palate's too saturated with refined sugar to appreciate the subtleties,” Hart said with a smirk. He waved at the table. "Foods are different in our time. Grapefruit don't exist. What was it you said it was called, Eye Candy, when you lot bring back old fruits and vegetables?"

"Heirloom," Ianto supplied.

Hart snapped his fingers and pointed at him. Then he saluted Ianto with the glass of juice. "That was it. Time current for you? Heirloom for me."

A ripple of laughter went around the table. Ianto saw Jack's food was finished and that the Torchwood captain was leaned back in his chair, engaging in one of his favourite activities-watching his team enjoy each other as friends. Gwen threw her head back and laughed at something Miranda said. The ease between the two women felt forced, but not as much as it once did. Ianto knew they'd exchanged apologies, but they still needed time. Much of the awkwardness hung around Hart's final moments. Though Gwen was willing to share Hart's last words with her, Miranda had refused to hear them. She'd lied and told Gwen that she didn't want an ending hanging over their new beginning. Ianto knew the truth-she felt herself unworthy to hear them.

The only things that would've made the morning complete were Fish and Henry, but the couple were still on holiday. Ianto was glad to have absolutely no idea when they would be returning, but that didn't mean they weren't missed. The last Ianto had heard, the couple were in America at Disney World, of all places. It was the absolute last place in the world any of them associated with the Duke. They’d all laughed riotously over pictures of the two men on the childish rides or wearing mouse ear hats.

Though Henry had only joined the team for a short while, Ianto still felt his absence. He and Henry had become quite close. Ianto heard from both Fish and Henry regularly, but Henry often rang on his own. Although he wished it was just to keep in touch and share pictures, more often than not, Ianto was offering Henry support and comfort. Fish's post-traumatic stress didn't take holidays. They frequently had to find ways to work around Fish's claustrophobia and Fish's aversion to being touched, especially from behind. Both were problematic, especially at busy tourist attractions. To their dismay, they'd discovered a new trigger for Fish's panic attacks during their trip to New York City. Henry had booked a tour boat that would have take them around Manhattan Island, but the feeling of the boat rocking and pitching on the water had sent Fish into a spiral of panic. Henry tried to focus on the good-that Fish's nightmares and anxiety were improving over all, but he felt powerless and helpless in the face of his husband's struggles.

Ianto pulled his gaze away from Fish's empty chair and turned to his husband. He reached out for Jack's empty plate and said, “Are you finished, Cariad?”

Jack nodded and Ianto put Jack's empty plate on top of his own. Just as he was about to stand, he felt his mobile telephone vibrate in his pocket. He took it out, smiling at the caller ID.

“Ethan, this is a lovely surprise.”

“I'm sorry to call so early, Ianto,” Donovan replied.

“It's fine. We were just having a spot of breakfast,” he replied. “You want me to put you on speaker? The gang's all here.”

“Actually I do. I wish this was a social call, but I've got a situation.”

Ianto sat up straight. In a more official tone, said, “Of course, Director. Jones, Ianto. Torchwood authorisation echo triple one, charlie eight zero five.”

“Code accepted. Ethan Donovan, nine nine eight, dash four, dash one.”

The exchange of codes and the professional sound to Ianto's voice caused the conversation around the table to halt. Miranda pushed her plate away and began drinking her coffee at top speed, as did Gwen. Jack turned his chair towards his husband, a concerned look etched on his face. He shifted his foot so his boot rested against Ianto’s shoe. Ianto smiled at the touch, then put his phone on the boardroom table. After activating the touchscreen table, he tapped a few spots on the glass so that Donovan's voice was projected into the room.

Ianto said, loudly, “Code accepted, Director. How can Torchwood be of assistance to our American friends?”

Donovan cleared his voice. Sounding overly official, he replied, “Men in Black and the government of the United States formally request the assistance of Torchwood in a Level Two situation. I repeat, Men in Black formally requests the assistance of Torchwood in the management and mitigation of a Level Two situation.”

Everyone in the room, but Captain Hart, became alarmed.

Jack leaned forward. “What's up, Ethan?”

“I need all of you, in Washington, at your earliest convenience.”

“All of us?” Gwen asked, nervously. Her worry was clear. She shared a look with Miranda and Jack. She and Rhys were in the middle of infertility treatments. They had started on a course of in-vitro fertilisation. It was a complicated mixture of drugs and testing that spanned months. Her arms looked like they belonged to a heroin addict. Any interruption and the process had to be started all over again. The rift storm and Fish's kidnapping had put a halt to their first attempt. Undaunted, they'd started the process again. To have it interrupted a second time would be devastating.

“Yes,” Donovan said, unapologetic. “This is a credible threat, Captain Harkness. I wouldn't raise the alarm like this if I wasn't sure. I'm sorry I can't give you a time frame for your return either.”

Gwen began, shakily, “Jack-”

The Torchwood captain silenced her with his hand, then asked, “Is four of us acceptable, Ethan? With an open ended return, I need to leave someone behind to run the UNIT team covering our absence.”

“Yes, that's fine, Jack.”

Gwen visibly relaxed. She met Jack's eye and mouthed a thank you. He smiled back at her.

“Who will be staying behind?” Donovan asked, tentatively.

"Gwen," Jack replied.

"Noted," Donovan said.

Ianto stood and said, “We'll be on the next plane, Ethan."

“Forgive me taking the liberty, Ianto, but an MiB jet is already standing by at Cardiff Airport ready to depart.”

“You could've rang last night, if it was so urgent,” Ianto said, frowning.

“It's not about urgency, Ianto. You're doing me a solid, dropping everything at the last minute like this, so the least I could do was make sure you're all travelling comfortably. I've been assured your flight time is just under seven hours. With the time change, you'll be here in the middle of the night. I've arranged quarters for you at the Washington Navy Yard. A military escort will meet you at Dulles and drive you there.”

“Is there anything you want to brief us on now?” Gwen asked, curious.

“It'd be better to save it all for when you get here," Donovan said.

“Loud and clear. We'll see you soon, Ethan,” Jack promised. “Give my love to Carol.”

“I will, Jack. Have a safe flight,” he said, and then the call disconnected.

Gwen turned to Jack and said, “Thank you, Jack.”

Jack put his hand on her arm. “I know nothing would stop you if the circumstances were different.”

“I'm sorry, I-”

“Nothing to apologise for, Gwen. We all want to give you the best chance for this to work,” He gave her a small smile, then turned to the others. “Okay, everyone, we're going to America. Our return is open ended so pack accordingly, but don't over do it. Will? Call whoever's filling in for Colonel Ashline and have them send over another team. The same one from that the rift storm, if possible. They've got the experience. I want everyone at the SUV in an hour. Gwen'll drop us at the airport.” He turned to Gwen and said, “I want daily reports. You can give them a little more leeway than we did last time. We'll talk while Ianto and I are packing.”

“I've never been in a private jet,” Ianto said. He started humming “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and Gwen giggled.

Jack leaned over and threw his arm around Ianto's shoulders. He tilted his head back and bellowed, “Cos I'm leavin' on a jet plane! Don't know when I'll be back again!”

Gwen and Miranda doubled over with laughter as the two men sang a ridiculous out of tune duet, repeating the same two lines over and over again.

“You don't know the rest of the words do you?” Miranda asked.

As he sang, Jack shook his head and Gwen and Miranda laughed harder. Jack and Ianto couldn't continue with only two lines, and dissolved into laughter of their own. Hart looked at all of them like they'd lost their minds. He cleared his throat loudly and said, “Look, I'm sorry to interrupt but can I ask something before we get going?”

Ianto teased, “You just did.”

Jack gave his husband a playful slap on the arm. After wiping his eyes, he replied, “What's your question, John?”

“What's a jetplane?" Hart asked, combining the two words so they sounded like one.

The hilarity evaporated and was replaced with the sound of crickets as they all stared at the fifty-first century man in disbelief. Gwen was the one to finally speak, looking as if she didn't know whether or not Hart was joking. “You travel through time and don't know what a jet is?”

As if speaking to a small child, Ianto said, in a mocking tone, “Airplane? It flies through the air? Takes you places?”

He made a motion with his hand like a plane flying.

Jack shouted, “Oi! Ease up on him, you two. There's a lot more history to learn in our time. It all starts to blend together after a while and everything is taught in relation to time current technology so we learned different names for things.” He turned to Hart and said, “We're pre-fifth force, John. A jet is a type of airplane. You remember when we learned about first generation air flight?”

Hart’s face contorted. He looked positively terrified. “You’re bloody joking right? It's an air machine?”

“How else do you expect to get across a bloody ocean?” Gwen asked. “Swim?”

“Well I'm not getting on _an airplane_ of all things. A bunch of wires, bolts, and metal flying through the air? No thanks!” Hart held up his wrist. “How about this?”

Ianto raised an eyebrow. “Now there’s an idea.”

“I'd rather take the plane,” Miranda said, narrowing her eyes at Hart’s vortex manipulator.

Gwen gaped at Hart. “You'd rather have yourself scattered into the vortex than take an airplane?”

“Than take a primitive tube of metal flying miles in the sky? Yes! It may as well be made of stone!”

Jack said, “That won't take all four of us and it's a rough way to travel.”

“I am not teleporting anywhere,” Miranda said, vehemently.

“It would be faster,” Ianto said, with curiosity.

The three of them began quarrelling like three small children trying to decide who got to sit in the front. Jack pulled his lips back and blew. The whistle was loud and caused them all to jump. Ianto regretted the day that Fish had taught it to Jack.

“No one is teleporting anywhere. We're taking the plane.” He gave Hart a pointed look. “All of us.”

Hart groaned, “Oh, but Jack...”

“No buts,” he replied. Then turned and walked away. “You said it yourself. When in New, New Rome...”

“Oh, c'mon! Jack! Jack!” Hart called. Once Jack turned the corner, he groaned, “Oh, for fuck's sake...”

Ianto clapped Hart on the shoulder as he walked past him. “Chin up, Captain. The chances of plane crash are one in eleven million. You've a better chance of being struck by lightning.”

“Or being eaten by a shark,” Gwen giggled.

“An air machine,” Hart grumbled. “I bet you lot still drill holes in people's heads to let the evil spirits out.”

Gwen rolled her eyes following Ianto out of the room. She mumbled, “Good God, acts like it's the bloody Dark Ages, he does...”

Hart called after her, “That's because it might as well be!”

Once they were in the main Hub, Gwen turned to Ianto and said, “You know, I can understand Miranda not being keen on planes. But him? Unexpected, that is.”

Ianto nodded as they approached Jack. “It's not like the laws of physics are different in the future, are they?”

Jack gave them both a frown. “Would you want to undergo surgery two hundred years ago?”

“That's completely different,” Gwen insisted. “No anaesthesia? No antibiotics?”

“That's the thing, Gwen. It's not. Things like anaesthesia, pain killers and antibiotics are perks of this century,” Jack said, with a shake of his head. “It's like you driving a car from the twenties across Europe that doesn't have things like airbags, seat belts or crumple zones.”

Ianto and Gwen's expressions changed immediately. Gwen said, reluctantly, “Perspective, I get it.”

Jack nodded then turned to Gwen. “Since I don't know when we'll be back, you need to keep things the same. None of the usual quick and dirty rift calls. We're still backlogged from the last rift storm.”

“Right. Do you want me to have them help with the backlog?”

“Yes, to an extent. Use your own judgement. I'll want daily reports, nothing too detailed. Just a quick rundown. Okay?” 

Gwen nodded and Jack turned to Ianto. “I'm going to leave the packing up to you, Yan.”

“Yes, sir. I'll get started straight away.”

Just as Ianto took a step towards the north stairs, Jack touched his arm. “You'll be okay in Washington, Yan?”

Ianto shrugged. “There's always a danger when new immortals enter a city. There could be silent truces that Mandy and I'll be disturbing.”

“You'll be careful?”

“Of course, cariad.”

Jack nodded, then walked away, his head bowed, and Ianto wished there was more he could offer.

* * *

Hart waited patiently for his wife, leaning against the desk while she dialled UNIT. He carefully examined his cuticles, eavesdropping on her half of the conversation.

“Good morning, Private, Colonel Mace, please... Unfortunately, it is... Of course. Ryan, Miranda, Torchwood authorisation alpha five seven three, November foxtrot, four one one six... Good morning Colonel Mace, how are you?... Yes, I'm well. Thank you... No, I've not heard from Colonel Ashline since his surgery, but prostate cancer is highly curable when detected so early so I'm sure the doctors are optimistic...”

He listened as the conversation continued. Miranda didn't relay the reason, but requested the UNIT personnel. Mace promised the UNIT team would be in Cardiff within a few hours. He would try to honour their request for the same people, but he couldn't guarantee anything. Miranda assured him it was only a request, and thanked him for being so generous with his personnel especially since she had no idea when they'd be able to return them. When the chore was done, she opened her desk drawer and handed the car keys to Hart.

“You can drive. You need the practise.”

He took the keys from her and started to walk towards the garage. “You know, Dollface, we could just-”

“No, John!” She shook her head.

“No one would know the difference,” he whinged. “I promise, it's perfectly safe.”

A strange look came over her face and she shook her head. “No, John.”

He walked around the car and put his hands on her arms. “You're really afraid of it, aren't you?”

Swallowing hard, she nodded. “I don't expect you to understand.”

“Help me to, love,” he said, softly. He leaned forward, kissing her forehead.

She shook her head, extricating herself from his arms. “I can't explain it.”

"Try."

"I spent most of my life illiterate. I learned to trust my instincts and my instincts tell me that what I am is tied to the earth," she said. 

"It's perfectly safe, Mei," Hart said, trying to reassure her.

"Tell that to Andy Davidson," she replied.

Hart had no idea who Andy Davidson was. Since his wife clammed up and seemed unwilling to continue on the subject, he pushed the start button and put the car into gear.


	2. Chapter 2

Even though they'd slept most of the flight, the team was weary by the time they landed in Washington. The men were especially glad to get off the plane, since the low ceiling prevented them from standing up properly. Finally on the ground and out of the plane, they all bent and twisted, hearing a few pops and cracks.

“I'm getting to old for this,” Jack muttered.

Hart let out a snort and muttered back, "Says the bloody immortal. Oh, for fuck's sake."

Ianto turned to him, alarmed, and asked, “What?”

“Without Gorgeous, I'm the only one of us with a bloody expiration date," Hart whinged.

The three immortals chuckled. The sound of tires on wet pavement interrupted the frivolity. A black limousine and black sedan pulled up, flanked on either end by police motorbikes. Four men in black suits, sunglasses, and ear pieces got out of the sedan. They lined up between the Torchwood team and the limousine, looking around.

Ianto raised an eyebrow, leaned over to Jack and asked, “Are they wearing sunglasses at night?”

“I hate that song,” Miranda said.

After helping the baggage handlers load the cases into the boot, the driver of the limousine opened the passenger door. A young woman emerged. Her blonde hair had been swept back in its bun for too long. Strands were escaping and it was slightly lopsided. Her black suit was wrinkled. She looked as if this was yet another long day in a series of long days for her.

“Ladies and gentlemen of Torchwood,” she said, her voice a little hoarse with fatigue. She cleared her throat loudly. “Sorry. Excuse me. My name is Alicia Richards. I'm Director Donovan's PA.”

She held out her hand, shaking each of theirs in turn. Jack was last. He jerked his head at the motorcade. "Are they all necessary?”

“It's easy to get lost in Washington, Captain Harkness, and traffic is no joke. So yes, they are necessary,” she replied. She checked her watch. “We should be at the Navy Yard in under an hour.”

“No, them,” Jack said, waving at the obvious security detail. “You expecting trouble?”

“Director Donovan insisted, sir. And while we're on the subject...” Richards replied. She indicated each man in turn. “Agents Walker, Hein, Lyons and Cooper. The Director requests you have one of them accompany you, at all times.”

“He does, does he?” Jack muttered in Ianto's ear. “We'll see about that.”

They all followed Richards to the limo. She gestured at the driver, “This is Agent Jason Cohen. He'll be your driver for the duration.”

Cohen held his hand out to Jack. “Good to finally met you, Captain Harkness. I heard nothing but good things from Doctor Fischer. Is he with you? I was looking forward to seeing him again. I was his driver when he was here.”

Jack shook Cohen's hand and got into the limo without answering him. Ianto stepped forward and said, “Doctor Fisher's on extended medical leave, Agent Cohen.”

Cohen's eyes widened. “Medical leave? Is Joe okay?” He cleared his throat immediately and said, “Sorry, not my place to ask, sir. If you talk to him, can you tell him I hope he feels better soon?”

Ianto looked at Cohen and said, warmly, “He's on the mend. I'm sure he'll be happy to hear you're concerned. I'll pass it along.”

Cohen was visibly relieved. “Thank you, sir.”

Once Richards was seated in the front next to Cohen, the entire motorcade got moving. Jack shook his head at the flashing lights. “Seems like a bit much.”

“Pot meet kettle. You love running lights and sirens in the SUV,” Ianto teased.

“I think lights and sirens, and a police escort is over the top,” Jack said. “It's very... American.”

“Well, what was it you said earlier?" Ianto asked Hart, amused. "When in New, New Rome?” Ianto said, smirking.

But Hart wasn't paying any attention to him. He was looking out of the car window. His eyes were wide. "I'd read about them-seen pictures-but it's so different in person." He pointed at the Washington Monument. The pearly obelisk stood majestically lit. "I don't think I've even seen a picture of it unbroken without the scorch marks. It's beautiful!"

Richards turned around in her seat, looking over the divider and said, “What are you talking about?”

Jack gave Hart a subtle kick with his boot. Hart gave Jack a look of apology for forgetting they were in mixed company, and continued to stare out of the window. Richards, not receiving an answer, turned back forward. Ianto had often seen Hart display facets of being out of his time. Once Henry had relaxed around the team, his speech lapsed into an archaic pattern. Ianto wondered how long it would be before he was so far out of his time that he would have to guard and watch everything he said, too. The idea exhausted him further and put him into a pensive mood. The hour that Richards had estimated passed quickly. The limousine stopped and Cohen opened the door for them, startling Ianto out of his thoughts.

Jack asked him, softly, “You okay, Yan? You looked miles away.”

“Just my mind wandering,” he said, dismissively, then got out of the limo to help Cohen with the cases.

Once inside, Cohen pointed up the stairs. “This is the safe house that we use for relocated riftugees while they complete our assimilation protocols. There are four bedrooms upstairs, so you can each have your own. There's Jack and Jill bathrooms.”

“Jack and Jill?” Ianto asked.

Hart clapped him on the shoulder as he walked by with Miranda behind him. “Finally, something he doesn't know.”

Ianto shrugged off the hand and Cohen replied, “Bathrooms between the two bedrooms, accessible by both.”

“Ah,” Ianto said. He watched Miranda and Hart head up the stairs, then disappear from sight to select a room.

Cohen pointed down the hallway in front of them, continuing to gesture as he spoke. “Living room, kitchen. There's a bathroom on this level too, just past the kitchen on the way to the basement. Laundry in the basement by the way. We've got the condo next door too-that's where we'll all be." He pointed up the stairs. "The door on the landing, there? It actually joins the two condos, so if you need anything we'll all be right through there."

When Jack got to the first landing he pointed at it, “This one?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Got it,” he said, then turned to continued upstairs.

Cohen called up after him, “I'll be by to pick you up at oh six thirty, sir. Director Donovan will have breakfast for you at Headquarters and then brief you.”

“Right!” Jack shouted down from somewhere out of sight. “Ianto! Work to do!”

Ianto smiled at the tone of Jack's voice. He turned to Cohen. “See you tomorrow, Agent Cohen. Thanks for the lift.”

“Not a problem, Mr. Jones." Ianto followed Cohen, to politely show him out and lock the door. Just as he turned, he noticed the camera in the corner pointing down at him.

“Cohen?”

Cohen turned, surprised. “Sir?”

Ianto flicked his eyes up to the camera. “Is that really necessary?”

The other man stepped back and looked up at the camera. “They're only in the common areas of the house, but they're not on, I promise. Like I said, we use this as a safe house for riftugees. They're required to be under surveillance during assimilation protocols, but I promise, we're not watching you.”

Ianto took his word for it and nodded.

Cohen dug into his pocket. “Oh, I almost forgot. This is my card with my cell phone, and the numbers for the rest of us.”

“Thanks. Goodnight, Agent Cohen.” Ianto let him out and locked the door behind him even though the condo was within the Navy Yard. He slipped the paper into his pocket and made a mental note to input the numbers into everyone's mobiles later. As he took off his suit jacket, he slowly trudged up the stairs, keenly aware of how much he needed to sleep in a real bed. Private jet or not, traveling was not a comfortable experience. When he got upstairs, one of the doors was already shut. He assumed it was the room Hart and Miranda had chosen for themselves. As he undid his cuff buttons, Ianto leaned against the closed door, pressing his ear to it, eavesdropping. He heard nothing.

Jack stuck his head out of their door. “Ianto? What are you doing?”

“Bit of snooping,” he admitted, quietly. He stepped away from the door. His cuffs undone, he started to untuck his shirt from his trousers.

“Oh?” Jack asked. He shut the door behind Ianto then leaned against it, waggling his eyebrows. “Hear anything good?”

“They're quiet," said Ianto with a shake of his head.

"Quiet? Certainly not my experience with Will," Jack grinned.

Ianto chuckled. "Nor mine."

Smiling, Jack unbuttoned his waistcoat. He draped it over a chair in the corner of the room and started on his shirt buttons. “They've settled in okay.”

“Mandy seems happy.”

Now behind closed doors, Ianto began undressing more thoroughly. He draped his things across the same chair then waved at the two twin beds. "Cozy."

“We can push them together,” Jack replied, sitting down on one of the beds.

“I'll talk to Richards, maybe we can get them replaced, since we're going to be here a while,” Ianto said, through a yawn as he stretched. “I'm knackered. I can't even stand the thought of hanging up my suits."

"I did it already."

Before Ianto could thank his husband for his thoughtfulness, the sound of a snap and a flash of light came from the bathroom adjoining their room to Miranda and Hart's. “What was that?”

Jack stood up and opened the door. The bathroom was empty. He crossed the tile and knocked on the other door, lightly. When he got now answer, he opened it, sticking his head in. “Will? John?”

Miranda was asleep in the bed, snoring slightly.

In a loud whisper, Jack asked, “John?”

He looked around but didn't see his former partner anywhere. Carefully, he shut their door and stepped back to his and Ianto's room. Shutting the second door, he shrugged. “I don't see him. She's dead to the world in there. She can't tolerate jet lag.”

“You don't think he popped off again, do you?” Ianto asked, concerned. He sat down on the end of the other bed and toed off his shoes.

Frowning, Jack said, “No, he's learned his lesson. He wouldn't do that again.” He sat down on the end of the bed, then bent to remove his boots. When he peeled off his socks, he wrinkled his nose. He balled them up and tossed them into the corner.

“I'll find us a proper hamper tomorrow,” Ianto said, rolling his eyes. He stood and began unfastening his belt and trousers. “I wonder if there's anything in the kitchen. I'm feeling peckish.”

“There wasn't much on the plane. I could do with something too,” Jack said. He sat back and put his hands on his thighs. “You want me to knock on that door and see if Cohen knows of anywhere near here that might have something this late at night?”

Ianto changed his pants and pulled on a pair of pyjama bottoms. “No, I'll just check the kitchen. They all looked as knackered as us and they didn't just spend several hours on a plane.”

Just as he was about to open the door, there was another flash of light and snapping noise coming from the bathroom. This time, they didn't miss it. Jack strode to the door and flung it open.

“Just what do you think you're doing?” he hissed. He grabbed Hart's arm and dragged him into the room.

Hart fumbled with his wrist strap. “What? Just a bit of a jaunt.” He held up the bag in his hand. “Fancied a bite.”

“Is that from that little place on Fortuna Minor?” Jack asked, sniffing the air.

“I got two specials,” Hart said with a nod. He reached into the bag, pulling out a wrapped package. “Here, they're plenty big enough to share.”

Jack took it from him and unwrapped it, then handed one half to Ianto. With a wide grin on his face, he said, “Oh yeah.”

His eyes rolled back when he bit into it with a loud crunch. Around the mouthful of food, he said, “It's the deluxe!”

Years of dealing with Jack's table manners were the only reason Ianto understood what he'd said. He was more cautious with the alien concoction. It looked like a some odd cross between a pasty and a burrito. Carefully peeling back the paper, he sniffed the contents. “Is that peppers?”

“Uhh, sort of,” Hart said. He leaned against the bureau and unwrapped his own parcel. “Bloody hell, I said light on the sauce.”

Out of the corner of his very full mouth, Jack grumbled, “The sauce is the best part!”

“I only like just enough for it to hold together,” Hart replied, but bit into the food anyway. “It repeats on me sometimes.”

“Am I going to regret eating this?” Ianto asked. He dipped his finger into the sauce and gave it a tentative taste. He couldn't stop his eyes from widening involuntarily at the velvety texture and savoury flavour.

“It won't kill you, Eye Candy,” Hart teased.

“It's tasty, Yan. Try it,” Jack said.

Ianto took a deep breath, summoned courage and bit into the corner. He was reminded vividly of a burrito, but crunchier. The crunch complimented the rich sauce perfectly. Jack was right, it was damned tasty. When Ianto popped the last of it into his mouth, he was sincerely wondering how long he'd have to wait, linearly speaking, before he could visit the place without the need for Hart's vortex manipulator. When they were finished, Hart collected the paper wrappings and disposed of them.

“Thanks, John, that hit the spot. Really fantastic,” Ianto said.

“Yeah, thanks," Jack said.

“No problem. I don't mind this slow road, but sometimes when you have a craving, you have a craving," Hart replied, smiling. He folded the bag carefully around the remaining parcel of food so Miranda could enjoy it when she woke. He stretched upwards, yawning loudly. Turning towards the bathroom between their rooms, he said, “Night, you two.”

Jack stood up and stopped him. He reached up, pulling Hart's collar aside. “What's that?”

“Nothing,” Hart said. He shifted his jacket's collar to cover the fading bruise on his neck, but Jack yanked the cloth back again. It was clearly a love bite that had not been on the former Time Agent's neck earlier. Strangely, it appeared to be so old that it had almost faded.

“You're incorrigible! How are you going to explain that to her?” Jack snapped, jerking his chin to the next room.

Hart leaned into the bathroom, looking at it in the mirror. "Oops. Thought I'd given it enough time. Ah, well, she's the one who gave it to me."

The future version of Hart that was now dead had told Jack he would jump around Miranda's timeline, but Ianto had had had no idea it had started so early. Jack brought his hand up, bringing it into firm contact with the back of Hart's head. With carefully chosen words, he cried, “You're bouncing around in her timeline? Do you know how dangerous that is? Just how many times have you done this?”

“This was only the second time since I've been back,” he said, shrugging.

Jack's voice rose, “Of all the stupid-”

“Oi! Keep it down, the both of you,” Ianto hissed. All three men looked nervously at the door leading to Hart and Miranda's room. When it showed no signs of opening, they all visibly relaxed.

“Don't you dare try to stop me,” Hart declared, in a low voice. He met Ianto's gaze over Jack's shoulder. There was bitterness in his voice. “You have forever. And so does he, or just as good as. I just had a lovely couple weeks with her. I won't let you take this from us... from her.”

The two fifty-first century men stared at each other, in a silent competition. Jack was the one who averted his gaze first. He nodded, once. Hart turned, and shut the door behind him. Jack flicked his gaze to Ianto who was giving him a look of shock.

“Jack, you've got to put a stop to this!” he said, vehemently.

“He's right, Yan. I can't stop him,” Jack replied. “The manipulator is his. He can do whatever he wants with it.”

“Don't you realise what this'll do to her?” he said. He pointed at the door Hart had just left through. “He's dead, Jack. She'll never have closure, because there he is, right back in her life again. Even after he dies, he's just going to be right there again leaping through time! She's never, ever going to be able to move on if he keeps popping in and out of her life for centuries!”

“He doesn't see it that way. And neither will she,” Jack replied. He balled up his shirt and tossed it into the corner followed by the rest of his clothing. He slid into one of the beds, and yanked the blankets up over himself. After he'd propped himself up on his pillow, he waved at the door and said, “I can't stop him. It would interfere with the timeline. That future version of John, that's why he ended up here when he did. He was trying to get in one last jump. It's already happened, Ianto. I don't like it anymore than you do, but here's nothing we can do.” He scratched at his head and rolled. “You sleeping here or there?”

Ianto sighed, thrusting aside their disagreement. “Been a while since we shared such a small bed.”

“Go on, sleep over there. I want you to get your rest.” Out of the corner of his eye, Ianto saw Jack discretely slip a pill into his mouth. In a matter of minutes, Jack was asleep. Ianto laid there in the other bed, his eyes closed, not sleeping, while Jack snored. The pill must have been a light sedative. _Good bloody idea_ , he thought and got out of bed. He'd packed a few Torchwood pharmaceuticals, for emergencies, and he helped himself to one of the sedatives. His last thought before the chemically induced sleep captured him was that his pillow was a little uncomfortable.

* * *

When his phone vibrated beneath his pillow, he let out a groan. Disoriented, he yanked the phone out and hit the snooze button. Then, he rolled to wrap his arm around Jack, but Jack wasn't there. Still half a sleep, he'd forgotten he was alone on a narrow twin bed and almost rolled onto the floor. The jolt of nearly falling woke him fully. He was deeply regretting the sedative. It had produced a slightly hung over feeling and the deep sleep it had provided had kept him in the same position all night. Now his head was pounding and he had a crick in his neck. He'd never fathom how he could get shot in the head and come back to life, but he couldn't escape getting a neck crick. 

Not starting off on the right foot, he went to go start coffee for the team. Sword in hand, he kept his footsteps as light as possible since Jack was still asleep. Dirt stuck to the soles of his feet from the untidy floor and he winced. When he got to the hallway, he wiped his feet on the runner, then went downstairs, being mindful of which steps creaked.

He turned on the lights and went to the kitchen. The condo was in a dusty state and needed of a good hoovering. The kitchen was no better. There was a layer of dust on the worktop and grease on the hob, but what concerned Ianto was the lack of supplies. He came across a single chipped mug with a spider web inside and a bag of plastic utensils, but nothing else. When he opened the refrigerator, a musty odour escaped. Someone had turned it on recently, but hadn't bothered to clean it. There was no coffee, but it didn't matter because there was no coffee maker.

In lieu of preparing coffee, Ianto would've started cleaning, but there were no cleaning supplies. The only roll of yellowing paper towels was the one on the dispenser, and there wasn't much to it. He knew Donovan was to have coffee and breakfast for them when they arrived at MiB headquarters, but he could use a cup of anything with caffeine in it now with the way he felt.

He checked his watch. He had just under an hour before Cohen's arrival, so going out for coffee was within the realm of possibility, but he didn't know the area. After taking out his mobile telephone, he brought up a map and searched for coffee.

_Dunkin' Donuts?_ he wondered. That sounded as if it would definitely have coffee, but on further inspection, he saw it was located inside of an office building that likely wouldn't be open at sparrow's fart. 

In the end, he gave up on the idea. They'd just have to deal with the lack of caffeine until they got to MiB. He could've gotten an hour more of sleep had he known the kitchen was empty. Grumpy, he went back upstairs for a shower, hoping it would wake him up a little.

When he got upstairs to his room, Jack's bed was empty and he heard the water running. He rapped his knuckles on the door loud enough to be heard over the water.

"Jack?" He paused, waiting. When there was no answer, he knocked again. "Jack? Is that you?"

A warm puff of steam hit him in the face, when he opened the door. "Cariad?"

The steamy shower door was reflected in the mirror. Though the glass was fogged, he could make out the outline of someone through the drips and pelting water. The person wasn't slight and short, so it wasn't Miranda. So it was either his husband or...

"Morning, Eye Candy. Just finishing up then I'll be out of your way," The door to the shower opened and Hart stepped out.

Ianto slammed his eyes shut, but not before the image of John Hart's full frontal seared into his brain. The fifty-first century man wasn't an eye sore by any means, but Ianto didn't want Hart to misinterpret the accidental glimpse as an invitation. The man was already insufferable, he didn't need inadvertent encouragement.

Still keeping his eyes downcast, he said, "I'll use the other one, thanks."

Hart leaned, reaching for the towel to dry himself. "Jack's in it. These bloody stalls are barely big enough for one person, let alone two." He waved the damp towel at the shower. "Go ahead. All yours."

"Thanks." Turning towards the bedroom, he tried to give Hart some privacy to finish up, but he felt Hart's hand on his arm.

"Listen, Eye Candy. Ianto. Can we keep what happened last night between you, me and Jack?" he asked.

When Ianto looked up to respond, Hart was still nude, the towel draped around his neck. He glanced back down at the floor and sighed. "I don't agree with what you're doing, John."

"What harm is it doing?"

Ianto saw movement out of the corner of his eye and looked up. Hart still hadn't bothered to cover himself. He averted his eyes again, annoyed at himself for not being able to have this conversation with Hart nude. "Can you please put something on?"

For once Hart didn't make any sort of crack about twenty-first century prudishness, as he wrapped the towel around his waist. He muttered, "Sorry." Then cleared his throat. "Visiting her in the future isn't harming anything. It makes us both happy."

Now that the other man was more modestly covered, Ianto stared him down. "You don't understand what you're doing to her. You didn't see her when you... when you left. Her first husband died thousands of years ago and she still has an ache in her heart from it. What you're doing will never let her move on. All she'll do is live from moment to moment-"

"All living is from moment to moment," Hart interrupted.

"-and never have closure. She'll never entertain the possibility of someone else. How could she when you keep popping round? How can she be happy like that? All you're doing is prolonging her grief, John. And every time you leave, she gets to feel that grief all over again. So, yes, what you're doing to her is very harmful." He let out a sigh of frustration. "But I won't say anything to her. Even though I think what you're doing is bloody cruel, it's not my business to tell her."

"You think she'd disapprove if she knew?" he asked. "She's always happy when I visit."

"No, I think she'd be as tickled about it as you are, but just because she's happy about it doesn't mean it's the right thing," Ianto said. Confused, he asked, "Why on earth do you not want her to know anyway?"

"I want it to be a surprise. My last gift to her," he said.

Ianto let out a snort and rolled his eyes.

Hart wasted no time. He brought his hand up and wrapped it around the Welshman's throat, shoving him against the door. He leaned up into his face and snapped, "I get that I'm a waste of oxygen to you, but don't you ever question my love for her."

After lowering his hand, he stepped back. He offered no apology, but his expression changed and for the first time Ianto caught a glimpse of the man Hart would become-the man who'd died in Gwen's arms. "Love's a funny thing, Ianto. Having Jack in your life? Doesn't it make everything better and brighter? The food in a meal you share tastes better, and that show on the telly's funnier if he's laughing next to you. Well when someone you love dies, it sucks all that away. Not only does the sun not shine as bright, but it doesn't shine at all for you anymore. And the only thing that will ever make it right again is getting that person back. 'Cept they're not coming back. They're gone, but deep down, somewhere in the part of your mind that never wants to think about your own trip into oblivion realises it's okay because one day you're gonna die too. That's not the way it is for Jack or you or her. That pain of losing me? It's never going to go away for her. When I'm gone, that pain's going to keep going for her, and if I can alleviate it for a day or a week or even an hour, I'm going to do it. I don't care if you don't think it's healthy, because if she doesn't want me to keep doing it, she's got the stones to tell me herself."

Hart waved at the shower. "I'll leave you to it, Eye Candy."

He watched the door close softly behind Hart and shook his head. Hart's excursions would lead him to his death, and they gave Ianto an ominous feeling. He could feel the reaper circling above, waiting to pounce. Who else would it snatch up while in a holding pattern for Hart?

Fish's destiny and his son David. Hart's jaunts through time. He was keeping enough bloody secrets from those around him. The hot shower hadn't washed any of the away. By the time he was dressed, the suit he wore like armour didn't protect him from the ominous feeling. In fact, it spread out of his personal life and into the professional. When he'd left Cardiff, Ianto had been optimistic about helping Men in Black with their problem. Now, something told him that nothing good would come out of any of it. Thrusting the feeling aside, he braced himself for something more immediately threatening-telling everyone they'd have to wait for coffee.


	3. Chapter 3

Miranda and Jack had groaned dramatically when Ianto had told them they needed to wait until they all arrived at MiB headquarters for coffee. The only saving grace was Cohen's punctuality. After knocking on the adjoining door to announce himself, he stepped into their condo. The circles under his eyes looked less dark than yesterday, but were still there.

He gave them all a forced smile and said, "Morning. Sleep okay?"

After a group grumble, Cohen led them to the waiting motorcade. He gave the swords a strange look, but said nothing. Everyone's clocks were wonky and they dozed during the brief drive. The car entered a parking structure and drove down to its bottom level. It reminded Ianto of home, but instead of pulling into a lift, Cohen parked in a space. He lowered his window and tapped the side of the pillar and a panel slide aside. He inserted a keycard and let it scan his retina. Once his access was granted, he quickly pulled his arm back into the car as the whole parking space descended.

Once the lift stopped and they were all lined up outside the entrance, Cohen placed his finger on the reader by the door. The door buzzed loudly and Cohen pulled it open. With pride, he gestured them inside and said, "Torchwood, I'd like to welcome you all to Men in Black.”

Their little queue followed Cohen through the squad room. Ianto was surprised to see agents at this early hour. They stood with respect as Torchwood marched through the room. Ianto regretted he didn't know more of these faces. All MiB agents were supposed to spend one month in Cardiff training directly with Torchwood as part of the new MiB training regime. Miranda didn't want all of MiB knowing about the immortals of Torchwood, and with Fish and Henry absent, Jack had raised safety concerns. None of them wanted to send an MiB agent home in a body bag. They were paying for that caution now. If they had faithfully launched the inter-agency training program from the start, it's entirely possible MiB could've handled this situation themselves. 

They stopped at another set of glass double doors leading into a smaller office area. Two desks faced each other, both occupied. Cohen gestured at the other agents as they stood. "Agents Quinn Colasanto and Alicia Richards. They're the Deputy Director and Director's PAs, respectively." 

Jack did a strange double take when he looked at Colasanto. After a brief pause, he said, "Good to met you both. Is Deputy Director Purser joining us this morning?"

"The Deputy Director is on his way back from the Western Field Office. His flight's landed and he's on his way," Colasanto said. The phone on his desk rang and he bent to answer it. "Excuse me." 

When he reached for the receiver, Ianto noted the Watcher tattoo on his wrist. He tapped Miranda's arm gently and gave the tattoo a pointed glance. She raised a concerned eyebrow at it, but said nothing.

Alicia opened the door to the conference room, leading them inside.

Ianto leaned and asked, quietly, "Do you think that's for our benefit?"

Miranda raised her eyebrow. Mindful of Alicia's proximity, she said, just as quietly, "I told Kiernan and Shawn about the trip. I'm sure they are also in the city, but there is no way they've made it into the building. It's unlikely they could've placed someone within MiB so quickly. I had no idea their reach was this far."

Alicia led them through a door to the right of the one that bore Ethan Donovan's name. It was a large conference room with faux windows made of flat screen televisions. The scene displayed was of the city above them. Ianto had no idea if it was a live picture or not. The rich aroma of coffee permeated the room along with bacon and something sweet. Ianto's stomach leapt at the smell of food, and his brain ached for the coffee. 

Alicia gestured at the buffet. "Please, everyone help yourselves. Director Donovan will be here shortly."

While everyone else attacked the coffee and the buffet, Ianto reached out for Alicia's arm. “Agent Richards? If I might have a quick word?”

She turned, and gave him a warm, tired smile. Just like all the other agents, she looked exhausted and stressed. Even through the fatigue, she was lovely. When she spoke, her voice was slightly tight. “Of course, Mr. Jones.”

“It's about our living arrangements,” he began.

“Yes?”

“I understand they were arranged hastily-”

“But they don't meet your exacting standards of tidiness I've heard about from Joe. I mean, Doctor Fischer,” she said with a grin. “It's all right, Mr. Jones. I'll arranged to have them thoroughly cleaned immediately.”

Ianto grinned back. “Did Fish talk about us a lot whilst he was here?”

Alicia nodded. “I'm pleased to finally meet you in person. It's great to put a face to the name and the stories. Joe said nothing but good things about all of you. Is there anything else you need?”

“Groceries and small appliances. The kitchen is completely empty. I would've taken care of some of the cleaning myself, but there was nothing.”

That drew a frown from her. “It was supposed to be stocked with some basics. I'm sorry, Mr. Jones.”

“One last thing,” he said.

“Of course.”

“If at all possible, we require the beds to be changed,” Ianto replied.

“They're not comfortable?”

“They're not large enough for two.”

Alicia winced. “Joe mentioned that you and Captain Harkness were a couple. My sincerest apologies, Mr. Jones. It slipped my mind.”

“No apology is necessary, Agent Richards. I don't mind a little distance when Jack snores, but as the length of our stay is undetermined...” he trailed off. He didn't begrudge he the oversight in her current state though he knew she was kicking herself for it. She radiated the same attention to detail Ianto did. 

“I'll have that taken care of today also.”

Ianto cleared his throat. “Doctor Ryan and Captain Hart are sharing the other room.”

Her eyebrows went up at the matching rings. “I wasn't aware they were also a couple. Thank you for telling me. I'll have their bed switched out as well. Again, I'm so sorry.”

“Thank you,” he said.

With a brisk nod and polite smile, Alicia turned and left. Ianto was relieved to finally be able to give into his body's screams for caffeine and food. Thoughtfully, Jack had already loaded a plate for him and poured a nearly overflowing mug of coffee. They ate in silence, devouring their food, and all of them returning to the buffet for seconds. As Ianto sat back down, the conference room door opened and Donovan strode into the room.

It had been nearly a year since they'd seen their friend. He looked trim and fit, but with a little more grey in his hair. Ianto wasn't surprised Donovan greeted Miranda first. She only rose partially out of her seat to kiss his cheek, but Donovan threw his arms around her, hugging her so tightly her feet came off the ground and her chair rolled away. Oblivious to Hart, Donovan buried his face in her neck and said, “Good to see you, babe.”

Hart cleared his throat loudly. Donovan set Miranda down, then flicked his eyes to the gold on her ring finger. His brow knotted and his shoulders straightened. His eyes rolled up and down Hart. His accent thickened and he spat, “This is the guy?”

“Ethan, this is my _husband_ , Captain John Hart,” she warned. "Be nice."

Donovan gave Hart another once over and then gaped at Miranda. “Seriously? This guy?”

“Ethan!”

After rolling his eyes, he stepped closer to Hart's chair, glowering down over him and said, “So you're what's-his-name."

Hart stood up, pushing himself into Donovan's personal space. “As my _wife_ already said, it's _Captain_ John Hart. Who the bloody hell are you?”

“ _Director_ Ethan Donovan.”

Jack leaned over to his husband. After stealing a strip of bacon off his plate, he said, “If they're going to fight over Will, I want to watch.”

Ianto picked up a triangle of Jack's toast. “I'd put a tenner on Ethan."

“Nah, John fights dirty,” Jack replied.

“So would Ethan,” Ianto pointed out.

Miranda pushed her way in between the two men, shoving them apart. “Dial down the testosterone, you two.”

They both looked at Miranda and simultaneous stepped back. Hart sat down in his chair as Donovan turned to greet Ianto. He gave Donovan a warm embrace, then patted his belly. “You look good, Ethan. There's certainly less of you!”

Donovan thumped Ianto on the back and laughed. “Carol’s got me on a diet and is making me go to the gym with her. It's worked wonders. My doctors say my blood pressure's never been better.”

Jack walked over and also embraced him. “Good to see you, Ethan.”

He gave Jack a solid kiss on the cheek. “I’ve missed you, Jack.” He turned and waved everyone to sit back down. He picked up a plate and began evaluating the food. “Sit, sit, I’m sorry I interrupted your breakfasts.”

Instead of returning to his seat, Ianto went about fixing a mug of coffee to Donovan's taste. Once Donovan was seated at the head of the table, Ianto set it down next to him with a flourish and a wide smile. “For old time’s sake.”

Donovan laughed, “Thanks, Ianto.”

Jack cleared his throat and began, “So what’s-”

“Let everyone eat in peace, Jack. No need to give everyone agida right off the bat,” Donovan said, buttering his toast. “It's waited hours, it can wait another twenty minutes. I'm sorry if the coffee isn’t up to your usual standards, Ianto. Gwen stayed in Cardiff?”

The light conversation continued over the food, everyone catching up. Once the dishes were pushed aside, empty, Ianto refreshed everyone's coffee. Donovan sopped up the last of the egg yolk with his toast and pushed his plate aside.

“You’re making me think I should work a butler into the personnel budget,” Donovan teased.

Affectionately, he said, “Don't bother. I’m irreplaceable.” The ripple around the table pleased him.

Once Ianto’d retaken his seat, Donovan tapped the intercom. "Alicia? We're about to start." He stood and said, “Thank you all for coming on such short notice. It’s great to see you again, though I wish it was under better circumstances."

"Are we going to wait for Deputy Director Purser?" Miranda asked.

"Chris'll be here soon." The door opened and Alicia stepped into the room. "Alicia will be handling the briefing. This is mostly her case."

Alicia circled the table, placing thick folders in front of each of the Torchwood team. "Good morning. I'd like to thank you all for coming."

When she got to the foot of the table, she opened a laptop and tapped a few times. She stepped to the faux windows, a remote control in her hand. The video of Washington DC vanished. “It has come to our attention that an alien species is abducting human women, between the ages of ten and thirty, for the purposes of experimentation with unknown goals."

Hart and Jack both barked out laughs. When they realised no one else was laughing, Jack said, “Alien abduction? You're serious?”

Offended, Alicia replied, “Oh, we're very serious, Captain Harkness."

Hart said, “There's no such thing as alien abduction, Peaches. This is a level five planet. No one sneezes in Earth's direction let alone conducts studies.”

“I'm aware of the Shadow Proclamation's distinction, Captain Hart. Nevertheless the evidence is overwhelming. The first portion of your packets is a missing person's report. And don't call me Peaches."

Alicia clicked the remote and a picture appeared on the screen. “Alexis Richards, age nineteen. Last seen just over six months ago in June 2015 by her boyfriend.”

Miranda flicked her eyes between Alicia and the picture, comparing the two faces. “Any relation?”

“She's my sister.”

“I'm sorry for your loss,” Hart said, sincerely.

“My sister is missing, Captain Hart, presumed alive,” Alicia replied, defensively. "My sister dropped out of college and into an abusive relationship. Her phone calls slowed and then stopped. She dropped off social media. She basically vanished. Then, one day, my Mom got a phone call, out of the blue. Lexi said she was pregnant and was leaving the douchebag because he'd started hitting her."

"And that was when she went missing?" Jack asked.

"Mom offered to come get her, but Lexi wouldn't have it. She was probably trying to protect us. She said a women's group was helping her move somewhere safe and that she'd let us know when she got there. That was the last any of us heard from her."

"Is there any chance she went back to her abuser?" Miranda asked.

"I didn't dismiss the possibility, Doctor Ryan, because she was terrified of this guy, and as terrible as it sounds, I almost wish that were the case. Her boyfriend filed the missing person's report. He even had the chutzpah to call my Mom asking if she'd heard from her, screaming like a lunatic."

“Chutzpah?” Hart asked, turning to Ianto.

He supplied, “A Yiddish word meaning brazen nerve or gall.” Ianto rolled his eyes. “Bloody can't wait for Fish to come back, so he can go back to explaining these things to you.”

“But your accent's so pretty, and you know everything,” Hart replied, smirking.

Ianto turned the back to their subject. He cleared his throat and said, "I hate to bring up the worst case-"

"And you wouldn't be Welsh if you didn't," Jack commented.

"-but is it possible he's killed her and is covering his tracks? Filing the missing person's report and contacting your mother could be to deflect suspicion from himself."

“And I'm not Welsh, Mr. Jones, but I'm Jewish. I considered the possibility, but she's also my sister. I need to hold onto the hope that she's alive. And evidence, which I'm getting to, suggests that she is." She cleared her throat nervously. "I did some investigating, on my own. I made some phone calls to the local cops and threw some federal weight around." 

Donovan leaned forward, his hands clasped on the table. "I got an irate phone call from the FBI. It alerted me to Alicia's off-book activity." He gave a nod to Jack. "Some things transcend rules. I told Alicia she could dig all she wanted, just to run it by me before she used MiB resources."

"It was generous of Director Donovan, but since none of this was exactly kosher, I didn't want it coming back around to him. I took a two month leave of absence and went out to Colorado myself. Deep cover. I posed as an at risk woman in an abusive situation seeking support and relocation. My report is included in the packet and you can read it at your own leisure. Keep in mind that, at this point, I was just looking for my missing sister. I didn't suspect anything alien whatsoever."

"What did alert you to alien activity?" Hart asked.

"It took me a while to find the right women's group. When I approached them, nothing felt unusual to me, at all. They were all wonderful people just trying to help. There was no deception, no duplicity, nothing. I hacked into their system to look at my sister's record and that was when I got creeped out."

"What did you find?" Miranda asked.

"There was evidence of massive amounts of tampering. It wouldn't be obvious to the caseworkers or volunteers, and it was only my work with Doctor Fischer that alerted me to the nature of the programming as alien. Someone inserted a virus, alien encoded, that allowed someone to remotely fiddle with text messages and e-mails. The messages were intercepted, altered and then sent on."

"And you didn't suspect human trafficking?" asked Ianto.

"At first, I did, until I recognized the code as alien. Human beings might not like to think it, but we think a certain way because our brains are structured through our evolution and our DNA. That evolution was determined by our world, our planet's circumstances. The virus was clearly not designed by a human being. I can't even figure out how the virus is doing what it's doing." Alicia tapped the tablet in front of her and a map appeared. "Armed with this new information, I returned to Washington."

"And since there was alien involvement..." Donovan said.

"I believe the expression is 'Bob's your uncle,'" Alicia said. She turned, pointing at the map. "With the full resources of MiB behind me, I was able to trace my sister's path through a complex trail of hotels and cash payments. Lexi was supposed to go from Boulder, Colorado, to Tuscon, Arizona. The last leg of the journey, my sister vanishes. She's seen checking into a hotel under a false name, but not leaving."

Alicia tapped the tablet and a video played of her sister at the front desk along with accelerated video of all the exit doors. "There are cameras at all the exits due to a problem with drug dealers. My sister goes into this hotel and never comes out."

"Have you questioned the volunteers?" Hart asked.

"We have and we don't believe any of these women were accomplices or had anything to do with Lexi's disappearance. They all volunteer because they, themselves, have escaped abuse and want to help others. They were all really freaked out that Lexi was missing. Every one of them broke down crying, terrified Lexi's abuser had somehow found her. We don't suspect any of them, in fact, after further investigation, we don't think anyone in the organisation has anything to do with the women disappearing, at all."

"How's that possible? There must be someone on the inside," Miranda said.

"There's a great deal of trust being exploited here, Doctor Ryan. Everyone-volunteers, caseworkers-they all trust each other implicitly. They all communicate through this quasi-anonymous network of burner cell phones and e-mails to protect the identities and locations of these women. All it takes is one hacked account, one tapped phone, and whoever is abducting these women gets everything. This alien virus is more elegant than it needs to be. A terrestrial hacker could accomplish the same thing."

"I used the classified addendum to the Patriot Act so alls I needed was reasonable suspicion to obtain warrants and devote resources," Donovan replied.

"How do you know they're being experimented on?" Hart asked. He still didn't sound convinced this was alien, but Ianto didn't think Donovan would drag them all across the Atlantic for reasonable suspicion. 

Alicia nodded and tapped at her tablet again. The screen split, displaying the pictures of two young girls. She muttered, "'Fate. It protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise.'”

Before Hart could ask, Ianto leaned and said, “It's from a television show.”

“That I know, Eye Candy.”

Alicia cleared her throat and said, “Just after the turn of the New Year, these two girls appeared in a playground. Meet Maya and Anna Simms, age ten and seven, respectively. A couple walking their dog said the girls asked them for food. Since they weren't dressed for the weather and were unsupervised, they called the police. As it turns out, Maya and Anna went missing with their mother, Carla Simms in January of 2015. Relocated by the same organisation that relocated my sister."

"No sign of the mother?" Hart asked.

"None. The girls were brought to a local hospital, and given a clean bill of health. Their medical records are in your packet." 

Miranda and Ianto flipped to the appropriate pages and began reading.

"They had family in the area, an aunt and uncle, so they were notified of the girls appearance," Alicia said. She swallowed and continued, "They arrived at the hospital, frantic, concerned and asking about Anna's health specifically. She has cystic fibrosis."

Miranda frowned and Ianto said, “There's no mention of it in her chart.”

Alicia nodded. “That's because no evidence of disease was found upon examining the girls. They were declared healthy.”

Miranda frowned.

Ianto said, “Cystic fibrosis is a serious disease. She would have a variety of signs and symptoms.”

“There's no history of spontaneous recovery and life expectancy doesn't extend beyond age forty. Anna shows no sign of the disease, nor any sign of ever having had it,” Alicia replied.

Donovan said, "This gave us definitive proof of alien involvement so I went balls to the wall on the investigation. I got search warrants for every state, all records of every women's organisation that relocates people out of abusive situations."

Ianto let out a low whistle.

"It was a lot of data," Alicia agreed. "The next packet is a list of possible abductees."

"Peaches, there's hundreds of people on this!" Hart exclaimed.

"The halfway houses all the women were headed to are run by the same organisation. It's called Safe Passages, a national domestic violence organisation that's existed since the eighties," Alicia replied.

"I still find it hard to believe that there's no one on the inside orchestrating all this," Jack said as he flipped through the pages.

"I take it, the girls have been questioned?" Miranda asked.

"According to both girls, one minute, they were staying in a hotel with their mother in Utah, the next minute they were in a playground in New Jersey," Donovan supplied.

"I wonder why they were returned," Hart muttered, mostly to himself. Louder, he said, "How long were they gone?"

"A year, almost to the day," Alicia replied.

"Have you searched for others who've been returned?" Jack asked.

"We went through the list again, combed medical records for amnesia, but we didn't find anything," said Alicia. “What was odd was the girls weren't returned where they were taken. They were returned to a populated area where they had living family. Whoever is abducting them wants them to be safe and knows enough about our society to know we'd return them to relatives.”

Miranda noted, "Do you believe the intention is non-hostile?"

"We were going under that assumption, at first, because they cured Anna's illness, then we looked closer," Donovan said. 

Alicia tapped her tablet and the missing persons report appeared. "On the report Maya and Anna were listed as having green and light brown eyes, respectively, but when they were found the opposite was true. Maya has light brown eyes and Anna has green."

"All right," Hart said, frowning. "Could be a clerical error on the report."

Miranda pointed at the screen. "But their pictures concur with the report. Maya's eyes are supposed to be green, Anna's brown."

"Well, that's creepy," Hart said. 

"Genetic testing confirms the girls eyes have been switched," Alicia replied.

Ianto shook his head, "But why?"

"Why not?" Hart said, shrugging. "No men have disappeared?"

"We haven't investigated the possibility, yet," Donovan replied. "Every field office is investigating, state by state. Right now they're up to their ears in missing women and girls."

"So what do you need us to do, Ethan?" Jack asked.

Before Donovan could answer, Ianto felt pressure flare between his temples. He and Miranda shared a look of alarm. Their hands shifted, reflexively gripping the handles of their swords. 

“Uhh, am I missing something here?” Alicia asked, alarmed.

“I believe our latecomer has arrived,” Donovan said, rising to his feet.

A few seconds later, the door opened and a sandy haired man in the traditional black MiB suit strutted into the room.

"I apologise for my lateness," he said.

Donovan stood. "Everyone, I'd like to introduce Deputy Director, Christopher Purser. Chris this is Captain Harkness, Ianto Jones, Captain John Hart, and Doctor Miranda Ryan."

Purser stopped at Miranda's seat first, extending his hand. “Doctor Ryan.”

“Deputy Director,” was her chilly response. She did not accept the offered hand.

Awkwardly, Purser withdrew and moved to Hart who greeted the other man politely. Ianto could either greet Purser with chill, as his teacher had done, or not. He had only seconds to decide.

“Mr. Jones, good to finally be able to meet you in person,” he said, extending his hand.

Ianto stood, deciding a united front would be best. He didn't take Purser's hand and said with a polite stiffness, “Deputy Director.”

Once Jack had offered his greetings, Purser shook Donovan's hand as he walked towards his own seat on Donovan's right. "I apologise for my disruption and my tardiness. My plane just landed. Agent Richards, continue please."

"I'm finished, Deputy Director. Captain Harkness had asked what MiB needs of Torchwood," she said, sitting down at the foot of the table.

Even Ianto could feel Miranda's eyes burning into Purser. Ianto could tell she was sizing him up, evaluating him as a challenger.

Donovan cleared his throat loudly and said, "To answer your question, Jack, I need you to help us figure out where these people are being taken and why. Clearly, they're being experimented on and we need to put a stop to it, as quickly as possible. The United States of America will not stand by idly while our people are abducted and used as laboratory mice."

Jack shook his head. "We're a level five planet, Ethan."

There was a pause and Donovan said, slowly, "And whose word do we have of that, Jack? Yours?"

Ianto bristled. "Now hang on a minute-"

"I meant no disrespect, Ianto, but that's what I get fired back at me every time I bring up the name Torchwood and Jack Harkness." Donovan shifted his gaze to Jack. "I trust you, Jack. Without question. But the rest of my government's a different story. You say we're a level five planet and that this shouldn't be happening, but it is. My government is considering this a hostile act." He turned to Miranda and said, "What was it you said, babe? The American style of shoot first, shoot some more, and then try to ask a question?"

Without taking her eyes off Purser, she said, “I believe there may have been a few expletives in there."

Donovan smirked, then sobered. "My superiors want answers and they want answers so there can be retaliation." At Jack's eye roll, he quickly added, "I've been given time to find a diplomatic solution first, but not much. I need your expertise and experience to figure out where these people are being held and why, and quickly. We need to put a stop to this before I hear the word 'nuke' one more time."

"Christ," Ianto muttered.

"What's the plan?" Hart asked, not looking up.

Donovan said, "We want to send Doctor Ryan in, deep cover."

Jack opened his mouth to hotly protest the idea, but Donovan interrupted him. "Please, just hear me out, Jack."

Jack sighed and gestured for Donovan to continue which he and Purser did, at length, ping-ponging the finer points of their plan between them. Ianto gave his teacher a sideways glance. The immortal woman still hadn't taken her eyes off Purser, but instead of the neutral expression, there was a frown deeply etched on her face. That frown deepened the more the two MiB administrators spoke.

She knocked light on the table. Ianto was surprised that such a gentle noise interrupted the men, who were clearly on a roll. She held up her hand and said, “Agent Richards? My apologies, but can you give us the room, please?”

Alicia looked annoyed, but turned and left. Once the door swung shut, Miranda shot Purser a glare. “Gentlemen, I believe you are both overlooking an important detail-my consent, which I do not give."

Both Purser and Donovan's jaws dropped. "Miranda-"

"I'm sorry, Ethan, but the answer is no."

Purser began, “No one here would need to know-”

“Silence,” Miranda barked out. Her Irish accent vanished, replaced by the odd archaic accent that slipped into place whenever she was deeply angry. She rounded on him. “I refuse to give an alien society clearly experimenting on our population access to an immortal physiology."

"There's no discernible difference between us and mortals," Purser said.

"Goddess below, are you as stupid as you are naive?" she spat. "A more advanced civilisation capable of interstellar travel could easily have the ability to pick every last one of us out of the population-inducted and pre-born alike. You're lucky you haven't been locked up in some distant medical version of Guantanamo Bay to be picked apart and dissected."

"That won't happen," Purser said, dismissive.

"You are a brainless fool," she spat. "Set aside your naivete regarding your own government, these aliens are clearly experimenting on us, whether out of curiosity or something more malicious. What made you two think it was a good idea to give them access to an immortal?"

Purser and Miranda continued to argue back and forth, revolving around each other and getting nowhere. Before it came sword swings, Jack slapped his hand down onto the table. "Enough. She said no. End of story. We find another way."

Jack turned to Hart and said, "I want you to look through the digital data and the alien code. See what you can dig up. Ianto, it doesn't make sense that they're just abducting women. Take a look, see if there are any men who've gone missing. Check into marginalised segments of the population. Will? I want you to take a look the twins medical records. You and I will question the girls again and I'll take a closer look at Anna."

“Captain Harkness.”

Donovan's sharp tone turned everyone's heads. Once he had their attention, he said, coolly. "Captain Harkness, you know your team the best and where their skills can be of most use. Please don't mistake what I'm about to say as ingratitude or disrespect." He paused, his voice darkening. "Don't forget whose side of the pond you're on, or whose yard you're playing in."

"Loud and clear, Director," Jack replied, seriously.

Donovan nodded and stood. "I'm afraid I have a meeting at the White House. The President is deeply concerned. Purser and Richards can get you anything you need."

Jack mimed wiping a tear from his eye. "They grow up so fast."

"Properly toilet trained. No more nappies," Ianto deadpanned. 

Donovan smirked, taking the ribbing well. As he walked past Jack and Ianto, he gave them both playful smacks on the back of their heads.

Once the Director was gone, Ianto and Miranda turned to a second problem-the third immortal of the Game in the room.

With their eyes boring into Purser, Miranda said, “John, I would appreciate it if you and Jack would give Ifan, Mr. Purser and myself a few moments."

Both mortals knew it wasn't a request. They stood and left the room. Jack squeezed Ianto's shoulder as he passed by with Hart on his heels.

During the briefing, they had been Torchwood sitting across from Men in Black, but not anymore. Now, they were three immortals of the Game. A truce needed to be maintained for the sake of the investigation, but when all this was over, Chris Purser needed to understand that he and Miranda were threats, no colleagues.

Sometimes perceptions were life or death within the Game. Ianto watched as Miranda's body language changed, subtle changes that added tension to the room. He mimicked the wary aura and even stood up, taking Jack's vacant seat to give the impression of distance between him and Miranda. He didn't want Purser to perceive them as a pair. Miranda moved first, unsheathing her jian and placed it on the table in front of her. Purser's eyes widened for a split second and Ianto had to smother a smirk. Their show was working.

“I am Chen Mao-Lin.”

Ianto paused and then drew his longsword. He laid it in front of him exactly as his teacher had done. “Ifan of Cymru.”

With a nervous smile, Purser said, “I'm Chris Purser. And I'm unarmed.”

He stood up. Miranda and Ianto's hands shot across to their swords. They stood, lifting the swords off the table and pointing them straight at Purser. The other man froze, raised his hands and then slowly eased himself back into his seat. He put his hands in his lap and was about to say something but Ianto cut him off with a sharp, “Keep your hands where I can see them, please.”

Purser placed the heels of his hands on the table. Nervously, he said, “We're on the same side here.”

“No, Mr. Purser. That is where you're wrong. We are not Torchwood and Men in Black now. We are three immortals of the Game and in the Game,” Miranda waved at the empty seat between her and Ianto, “there are no sides. There is only the stroke of a sword and the fall of a head.”

Purser let out a snort. He waved at the two of them. “Only one immortal may challenge another.”

Ianto narrowed his eyes, and gestured at the chair between them. "You mistake our relationship. We are both Torchwood, but we stand individually."

Purser looked back and forth between them. He insisted, “I'm not a threat to either of you. You can trust me.”

“I trust no one,” Miranda said.

"Nor do I," Ianto added.

Purser levelled his gaze at her and said, “I was a student of Coltec.”

The name meant nothing to Ianto at all, but it must have to Miranda. The woman narrowed her eyes and said, “Coltec taught no one. The cup overflowed.”

“I was in 'Nam. I came home like a lot of guys-screwed up and mad as hell. At everyone and everything. Coltec helped me when I thought no one or nothing could.”

“How did Ethan find out? Was it an accident or does your brainlessness have no limits?” she demanded.

Purser's mouth thinned. “It was an accident. He wouldn't tell me how he knew about us. In fact, I didn't know about the two of you until I got here just now. Sending you in on deep cover was Ethan's idea. I argued with him that it was no different than sending in on of our own, but he swore I'd understand when you got here. Which I do.” He gave Miranda a serious look and stated, “I swear on my head, Ethan's the only one here who knows.”

Miranda paused, staring at Purser with an impassive face. "A truce?"

Purser nodded then turned to Ianto. “And you?”

Ianto paused, feigning a pensive look. He finally said, “A truce.”

Purser smiled and stood. “Glad we can work this out. I'm afraid I'm needed on the Hill. Damned meetings are a pain.”

“May I ask you something?” Ianto asked.

He paused, raising an eyebrow.

“Where's your sword?”

Purser laughed. “I have three, actually. One for work on a display rack in my office. One is on my mantle at home. The third's in the trunk of my car.”

“I gather they won't allow you into Capitol Hill with it,” Miranda teased.

“Erm, no. Believe it or not there are about two dozen immortals working within the government,” Purser said.

Ianto and Miranda shared looks of alarm. He asked, “And you all get along?”

“Of course. This is a political town, Mr. Jones. No one wants scandal. The unwanted attention of taking a head is the last thing any of us wants or needs.”

“How will we fit into all that?” Ianto asked.

“The same,” Purser replied, without hesitation. “This is Washington DC, not Paris. I don't know how long it's been since you've been in America, if ever, but the capital city is considered almost like a neutral zone. It's been that way since, oh, about the fifties. You two are safe here. Like I said, no one wants the unwanted attention of taking a head. Anyone's.”

With a polite smile, Purser buttoned his coat and strode from the room. Miranda turned to her student. “We must still be on our guard. If he's right and the American capital is a neutral zone, our kind would flock here. Two dozen of us is a lot, but this is one of the largest and most important cities in the world.”

Ianto nodded. “I agree. I don't care what he says, just because he has a truce with all them and we have a truce with him, doesn't mean bollocks for the rest.”

“I agree. Jack is adamant that we ditch our protective detail, but I think Ethan assigned them for our benefit,” Miranda noted. She strummed her fingers on the glossy table. “This is an unwanted distraction.”

Ianto nodded. “Nothing for it, Mandy. We're just going to have to see where this goes.”

“Agreed. Let's get to work, Ifan.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have started using a different program to write and it is causing formatting issues when posting to AO3. I apologize and am trying to correct everything.

The Torchwood team took over the conference room as a workspace. Computers, printers, phones, and other equipment were moved in to accommodate them. The speed with which MiB had gotten them up and running made Ianto envious of their manpower.  

After a several hours of getting no where, Ianto and Hart had decided to switch assignments. Hart turned his attention to the male segment of the population while Ianto attacked the electronic trail as their dinner congealed and turned cold. It was nearly midnight when they'd had enough and Cohen drove them back to the condo. Ianto was ready to get into bed and get some rest. The jet lag was awful and the fatigue had given him a headache that had been steadily worsening all day. Ianto was pleased with the thorough cleaning and stocking the condo had received. Satisfied he'd be able to keep everyone fed and caffeinated, Ianto went up the stairs to bed. He'd expected a different bed, but the king size bed was a surprise. It was too big for the room, and Ianto had no idea how they'd gotten it through the door. He undressed and hung up his suit. The mattress was comfortable, but the bed's size highlighted Jack's absence. It took a while for Ianto to fall into a restless sleep. Each time he opened his eyes, time had vanished, but it hadn't felt as if he'd slept at all. As he tossed and turned, a half hour or an hour would vanish without him truly falling asleep. Eventually, he gave up and went down into the kitchen.

To his surprise, Hart was sitting at the small table already, eating a bowl of cereal. He looked up, spoon halfway to his mouth, dripping milk. Even in the dim light, Ianto could tell he was exhausted.

“Morning.” His voice was rough with fatigue.

“Morning,” Ianto said, turning to the cupboard. There was a wide variety of coffee from pre-ground to whole bean, light roast to espresso. Nestled in with coffee were also a few types of grinders from burr to Turkish. To Ianto's surprise, there was a manual drip carafe, a French press, and a Turkish coffee pot. Ianto could make any style of coffee his heart desired. There was a small notecard and he didn't recognise the handwriting.

_Mr. Jones, please accept my apologies the condo was not to your exacting standards. Doctor Fischer spoke highly of your coffee skills. I hope this wide selection can, in some way, make up for my oversight. Sincerely, Alicia Richards_

Ianto fingered the pretty notecard. He turned to toss it into the trash, but instead slipped it back into the cupboard. He smiled as he opened some of the pre-ground coffee. The sound of a grinder was not what he wanted this early in the morning. After carefully measuring and adding the water, he hit the start button on the drip machine. As it bubbled away, Ianto selected an apple from the bowl on the worktop. He sat down opposite Hart and took a bite.

“Looks like my bed wasn't the only one that was too big for one person, eh, Eye Candy?” Hart asked.

It was loneliness, not snark, in Hart's voice. For some reason, the vulnerability Hart displayed in that one sentence made Ianto uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and said, “Yeah, it was.”

Hart shoved a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. The chewing sounds were too loud in the silent kitchen. When the coffee maker beeped, Ianto stood up and poured himself a cup. It was with a contented sigh that he sat down with his hands wrapped around the warm mug. The first warm sips brought him a little closer to himself. In comparison, the former Time Agent looked bleary and miserable.

Hart said, mostly to himself, "I've slept alone all my life. Was one of those people who could fall asleep anywhere in the middle of a battleground if I wanted. Now I can't manage unless she's there. Fucking unnerving."

Ianto said, "I know what you mean. Jack's snoring used to keep me awake. Now the room's too quiet." He pushed his mug in Hart's direction. “Have a sip, John. It'll help. You look dead on your feet, you do.”

The lack of sleep must have lowered his defences. Hart reached for the mug and took a deep draught of the hot coffee. His eyes widened and he stared at the mug as if it had been full of Arcadian diamonds. “Orenhath's nuts, that's fantastic!”

Ianto laughed. “I've been telling you that for months.”

Hart took a slow, slurpy sip. “The Twins, that's bloody marvelous.”

Ianto stood and poured Hart his own mug. He set it down in front of the other man with a flourish. “Here you are, John.”

“Thank you,” Hart replied with a wide smile. He took another sip and a worried look came over his face. He waved his hand between them. “Ianto, you won't tell anyone about this, will you?”

With a laugh, Ianto clinked his mug with Hart's and with a wink said, “Your secret's safe with me, mate.”

* * *

Ianto rubbed at his eyes. He and Hart had arrived at MiB this morning and had set to work again. Ianto had been trying, all morning and unsuccessfully, to see how the women's organisation had been compromised. He wasn't quite sure what Hart was doing, but the other man had abandoned his red jacket and boots. His feet were up on the chair next to him. Taking his cue from Hart's state of undress, Ianto had removed his shoes and suit jacket. Normally, Ianto wouldn't have been so eager to appear casual in front of their hosts, but the jet lag and the poor night of sleep had him miserable. The headache from yesterday, temporarily vanquished by caffeine, had returned. His eyes burned as he stared at the screen and his brain felt as if it were swaddled in cotton. Quite a few times he'd felt his eyes drooping. Once or twice, he'd caught himself falling asleep. The second time his head had snapped up, Hart had suggested Ianto lay his head down for a few minutes. Ianto had taken the suggestion but the power nap had done nothing to make him more alert. 

The sleep deprivation wasn't helping his investigation. He couldn't think and the constant pressure of Purser behind his forehead wasn't helping either. At the Hub, Ianto easily ignored that pressure because it belonged to his teacher who wasn't a threat to him. Here, it belonged to Purser and that was a different story. Ianto felt relatively safe in Cardiff, but Washington had him on edge.

He reached for his mug. The stone cold coffee touched his lips and he immediately spat it back. _Time for a refill._ As he rose from his seat, slipping his shoes back on, he asked, "You want some coffee, John?" 

"Hmm? What's that, Eye Candy?" 

"Coffee, would you like a cup?" he repeated. 

"No thanks," Hart replied, briskly. He tapped his chest. "Heart's still racing from that mug this morning."

Ianto rolled his eyes. "What? A full forty beats a minute now?"

"Probably as high as sixty." Hart laughed and gestured at his water bottle and asked, "Water would be great, though, since you're getting up." 

"Sure, be right back," Ianto replied. He picked up the obscenely large water bottle. "Anything else?" 

"No, thanks though," he said. After giving him a friendly smile, he returned to his work. 

Ianto stepped out of the conference room and saw Colasanto working at his desk. An idea popped into his head. Pausing, Ianto asked, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Colasanto nodded and gave Ianto a friendly, warm smile. He stood and said, "I'll be right back, Alicia."

The two men stepped towards the break area, a relatively out of the way storage cupboard converted into a small kitchen area. The minute they arrived, Colasanto's friendly demeanour evaporated. His face twisted with annoyance, impatience and disgust.

"What do you want, Jones?" Colasanto demanded. The man's thick New York accent reminded him strongly of Henry's son, Tom.

Ianto asked, "You're Chris Purser's Watcher?"

Colasanto folded his arms over his chest and said, nastily, "Yeah, I am. What do you want?" 

Ianto held up his hands and said, "Look, I don't want to quarrel."

"I bet the next words outta your mouth are that you need a favor." He shook off Ianto's hand.

Ianto nodded. "Mandy and I just want to make sure we won't upset the others in DC."

Colasanto's disgusted look deepened. He barked, "You know, you got some fucking balls. I should report Davies and Graham, because if you think you can ask a random Watcher for a favor, then you're getting a regular fucking reach around from the two of them." Colasanto walked up to Ianto and shoved his finger in his chest. "You can take your favor, shove it up your ass, and have Harkness plug it with his load." 

Ianto let the insult slide. "Purser said Washington is a neutral zone. I just need to know if he was lying." 

Colasanto's face twisted in angry disbelief. "Are you fucking brain dead?" He shoved Ianto into the fridge. "You know my Gramps told me he once killed a man and the guy came back to life. I always thought he'd eaten lead paint chips as a kid, but then I saw it for myself. I've been a Watcher ever since. It might seem stupid to all you fucking immortals, but it means something to me. And you just shit all over it." He gave Ianto a slam with his shoulder as he walked passed. "So fuck you, Jones."

_Perfect_... Ianto thought with a sigh. He refilled his mug and Hart's water bottle and went back to the boardroom. After he set the water bottle down, he dropped into his own chair, rubbing his temples. 

Hart said, "I was about to ask Peaches to order us some food. When were Jack and Miranda expected back?" 

"Don't call her that, John. Hasn't Fish explained that unless you're a family member or intimate partner, women don't like the use of pet names  it's considered demeaning and disrespectful," Ianto explained  "And I don't know. They didn't say." 

He leaned forward and tapped the intercom. "Agent Richards?" 

"Yes, Mr. Jones?" she replied. 

"When are Captain Harkness and Doctor Ryan due back?" 

"I was told not to expect them until tomorrow or the day after," she said. 

"Thank you," Ianto said. He disconnected the intercom and swore in Welsh. He rubbed his eyes and laid his head down in his arms. "Bollocks to jet lag." 

"Looks like another rough night for the two of us," Hart said, sighing. He rolled his chair close to Ianto and said, "There is a possible solution to our problem." 

"Sedatives?" His voice was muffled by his arms. 

"Share a bed with me, Eye Candy," Hart replied. 

Ianto sat up and said, "Excuse me?" 

"Just to sleep," Hart said, quickly. "I'm not suggesting anything more risqué." 

For an insane moment, Ianto actually thought agreeing. _Christ, Jack's only been gone a day._  He rolled his eyes and was about to say thanks but no thanks when Hart snorted. 

"It's just sleep, Ianto. What? Have I offended your twenty-first century sensibilities about acceptable behaviour while in a committed monogamous relationship?" Hart asked. "Or you bending over for Jack aside-some ridiculous concept of... what do you people call it these days? Sexual orientation? Sexual identity?"

"All right, we can give it a try if they're not back tonight," Ianto said. He pinched the bridge of his nose and grimaced. The lights in here were too bright.

"Splendid," Hart replied. After a moment, Hart asked, concerned, "You all right, Eye Candy?"

Ianto let out a sigh and sat up. "No." Sleepy and not thinking clearly, he blurted, "I just pissed off Purser's Watcher by asking him a simple question. My fucking head won't stop pounding and staring at this screen isn't helping. I can get shot in the chest and come back to life, but I can't escape a bloody migraine."

Hart stood up and walked over to him. He put his fingers on Ianto's temples and pressed.

"What are you doing?" Ianto asked.

"Just relax, Eye Candy. Close your eyes, take deep, slow breaths," Hart said.

He bent down and took Ianto's hand, pressing his thumb into the fleshy part between Ianto's index finger and thumb. Two fingers on his other hand pressed at two points at the base of Ianto's neck, firmly but not uncomfortably. Then, in some feat of manual dexterity, two other fingers pressed into points at the base of Ianto's skull. The throbbing in Ianto's head receded. It wasn't gone completely, but it was much better. Hart moved his hand to the front of Ianto's face, his thumb pressing into the point between his eyes and a gentle feeling of relaxation settled on his shoulders. 

"Better?" Hart asked. 

"Loads," Ianto said. "Thank you." 

Hart squeezed his shoulder and said, "Don't mention it, Eye Candy. Consider it a thank you for not giving up on offering me that orgasm in a cup you call coffee." He tilted his head, as if listening and said, "Looks like we won't be sharing a bed after all. I think I hear Jack." 

A full two seconds later, Ianto heard them. He slipped on his shoes and lifted his coat. Just as he was buttoning it, the door swung open. 

"It's ludicrous, Jack!" 

"I'm not saying I don't agree with you, Will, because I do, but it's not our decision." 

"I take it things didn't go well?" Ianto asked. He held out his own mug of coffee to Jack who shook his head. 

"No thanks, Yan. And no, it didn't. They're treating those girls like lab rats," Jack said. 

"It's fucking barbaric," Miranda snapped. "There is nothing to be learned here. What was done to them is too advanced for us to glean anything." 

"Why are they keeping them, then?" Ianto asked. 

"They still think they can learn something if they begin to do more invasive procedures," Miranda said, with disgust. "They think the girls hold the solution to transplant rejection and the cure for cystic fibrosis."

"That's what they're saying, but they're more concerned they were let back into the population," Jack said. 

"Paranoid is more like," Miranda countered. "Where's Ethan?" 

Ianto shrugged. "Haven't seen him since we got in."

Jack raised his hand to try and calm Miranda. "Will, c'mon. Don't go jumping down Ethan's throat."

"It makes no sense, Jack! They're insisting they can learn something from them, but they're also insisting that we don't have the technology to figure out what's been done."

"Apples and oranges, Dollface," Hart said with a shrug. "Wouldn't be the first time an alien species has kidnapped portions of the population and released them back as biological sleeper weapons."

She shot Hart a look of death. "You're not helping, John!"

Hart shrugged. "Wasn't trying to. Look, I get it, they're kids and you people have something quaint about that in this century, but like Jack said, it's not up to us."

"That's right, it isn't," Donovan said, striding into the room. "There are people I have to answer to. We're not outside the government like Torchwood. I'm sorry, babe, but there's nothing more I can do. I'm a father. I want to give those girls back to their family and let them heal but I've been overruled." 

The endearment earned Donovan a nasty glare from Hart that Donovan either ignored or didn't notice. Hart turned back to the computer with a frown etched on his face. 

The MiB Director continued, "Have you had any luck finding other returned abductees?" 

To his credit, Hart shifted his dislike of Donovan to the back burner. He turned towards the laptop. "I've been searching through the medical records. There are plenty of people committed to various mental institutions who claim alien abduction, but none that fit the rest of the profile. If their memories were wiped like these girls, they wouldn't come back with alien abduction stories." He reached up and flicked the screen with his finger. "I still can't believe you lot ignored the male segment of the population." 

"We didn't have any direct evidence of men being taken," Donovan replied, a little defensive. 

"Men can be at risk as much as women," Hart said, waving at the screen. "They're even more open to abuse because of the huge gender bias in this backwards century." 

"Men's issues aside, Captain Hart, it also makes them harder to track," Donovan said. He leaned against the sideboard, crossing his legs at the ankles. "The women presented to us first and gave us a clearer picture faster." 

"Did you find something, John?" Miranda asked. 

Hart swiveled in his chair, looking proud of himself. He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the computer. "The United States of America has the distinguished honour of being the country with the highest per capita incarceration rate. You imprison hundreds of thousands of your population per year and over ninety percent of your inmates are male."

"That'd be a perfect segment of the population," Ianto said, nodding. "No one cares about convicted criminals." 

"We watch criminals carefully," Donovan said, frowning. 

Hart wagged his finger at him. "Ah, you do, but those who are released on parole. You release tens of thousands of inmates, unconditionally, every year. The people who've served their sentences are just let back into the population, most of them with no where to go." 

"What'd you find, John?" Jack asked.

Hart turned back to the computer, his fingers dancing over the keys. "There are plenty of prisoners who've gone missing and either vanished off the face of the earth, or have missing person's reports filed for them. I did a general search on those who've had the reports filed, but then retracted."

"They turned up," Donovan said, surprised.

"I got a few hits in the past ten years. Two are within 250 miles of the city. Edgar Washington is currently committed to a psychiatric facility in New York and Don Howard, currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland." 

Donovan said, "I think we should pay them both a visit."

Jack and Miranda nodded. "Back out we go, Will." 

Miranda said, "New York is a five hour drive."

"The jet can have you at LaGuardia in no time. I'll call the northeast field office and let them know you're coming," Donovan said. He walked to the table and picked up the phone. "There's a MiB safe house in Manhattan you can stay at."

"Can I at least stop back at the condo for a change of clothes and a shower?" Miranda asked. 

"Yeah, we can do that." Jack stretched. "Maybe some lunch."

Donovan hung up the phone and said, "Whenever you two are ready, the jet's ready for you. I can have Alicia order something."

Once the pizza arrived, the agents from the squad room filed in accepting slices and soda. Donovan sat down at the end of the table with his own food next to Ianto. "It's not often I can order the whole office lunch." 

Ianto said, "Ethan, I need you to do something."

"Sure, Ianto."

"I need you to back off him." 

Donovan began blotting the grease off of his pizza slice and absently said, "Who? What's-his-name?"

"Ethan," Ianto warned.

With a snort, Donovan tossed the oily napkins aside. He wiped his mouth and turned to Ianto. "Remember after I chased down that lead to New York-"

"And then rang me to lie to me," Ianto replied.

"You didn't fucking see her, Ianto. She was so fucking lost and in no shape to be any good to anyone. He did that to her and she goes and marries him."

"That's not our business, Ethan," Ianto said.

"I think it is, Ianto. You said it yourself. We're all she has." He rolled his eyes as he glanced over at Miranda and Hart. "Look, I grew up in south Boston. Guys like that was always up to nothing good. I know a fucking scoundrel when I see one." Donovan pointed at the door. "He's a loser and he's not good enough for her."

"You saw her in New York. Tell me how she's different now," Ianto said, jerking his head towards them. 

Ethan watched them out of the corner of his eye. There was a wide smile on Miranda's face and she looked at Hart as if he'd hung the moon. Ethan let out a sigh and said, "All right, all right. I'll back off what's-his-name."

"Thank you," Ianto said, relieved. 

"She deserves better," he muttered. 

"Is that jealousy, Ethan?" Ianto teased. 

"No," he said, affronted. "I'm in a great relationship."  

"Any plans for remarriage?" Ianto asked. 

Donovan snorted. "We're both divorcees. Been there. Done that. No fucking thanks. I love Carol, she's great. My kids like her too. Hey, you and Jack should come out to dinner with us some night. She'd love to meet you both."

"We'd like that if we can ever get out of the office," Ianto said. 

Donovan nodded. "I've cancelled on Carol twice. This one's got me in knots. We don't get a lot of cases like this. Usually some radioactive space junk crashes or something weird like that but nothing this huge. It's why I knew I needed you guys here."

"We'll get to the bottom of all this together."

"I hope so," Donovan said. He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Like I said, I hear the word 'nuke' one more time I'm gonna fucking puke."

"We're getting closer," Ianto said, waving as Jack and Miranda left the room. "Hopefully that lead will pan out." 

"If it doesn't, I may have to send in Alicia," Donovan said. 

"We need more time." 

"I might not have a choice. I'm getting a lot of pressure from above to let her do it, despite her emotional involvement and the risks." Donovan sat back and pushed his plate away. "Miranda was my solution to that. If our leads keep stalling, I might just have to let her do it and that's the last fucking thing I want to do. Alicia is one of my best agents. She's got this finesse for the politics. She was Joe's suggestion for Deputy Director." 

So far Ianto had been impressed by Alicia's grace under pressure and meticulous nature. He asked, "How'd you end up with Purser?"

"The hiring committee said they wanted someone with a stronger military background which is code around here for 'someone with a penis,'" Donovan said.

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Lovely."

"Don't get me wrong, Chris is good at his job and I like him, but I think Alicia would've been more efficient. I don't want to send her in under cover." He scrubbed at his face. "I couldn't live with myself if something happened to her." 

"Hopefully, things won't come to that." 


	5. Chapter 5

The mobile phone underneath Ianto's pillow vibrated and chimed gently. With a groan, he turned the alarm off. The bed was stifling and he was sweating. His t-shirt was stuck to his back and his pillow was damp. With a roll of his eyes, he tried to shove off the smoldering arms of John Hart.

"Five more minutes, Eye Candy," he muttered. With a nuzzle to Ianto's side, he squeezed Ianto into him tighter. To Ianto's dismay, Hart's hand was tucked into the waistband of his pyjamas. 

It was a moment of sheer insanity brought on by profound jet lag and sleep deprivation that had caused Ianto to agree to this sleeping arrangement. But it had worked. After insisting Hart go to bed clothed, they'd climbed under the blankets together and Hart had rolled away from him, far on the other side of the bed. It had taken Ianto a few minutes to get used to the different breathing pattern, but instead of spending the night tossing and turning, he'd fallen asleep almost immediately next to Hart's inferno. He hadn't slept as well as he would've had Jack been in the bed with him, but Hart was enough to trick Ianto's mind while he slept. 

“Oi, you're going to give me a bloody heat stroke!" Ianto said, shoving Hart again. 

Ianto had no idea when Hart had wiggled his way over to him, but he wasn't tolerating this hands-y octopus.

"But you're so cuddly." Hart squeezed him tightly. 

Rolling his eyes, Ianto threw back the blankets and stood up. "We are not doing this again!"

Hart whinged, "Oh c'mon, Ianto!"

"You're incapable of keeping your hands to yourself," Ianto said, rolling his eyes.

Hart gestured at the bed. "I behaved!"

"Me waking up with your hand halfway down my pants is not behaving!" Ianto shouted.

Hart rolled back over and said, "Fine, I'll sleep in the other room tonight."

Ianto said, "Don't sleep too long, we have to leave soon." 

"Yes, Mum," Hart mumbled.

Ianto walked into the bathroom for a shower. Just as he'd peeled off his sweaty clothes and gotten the water adjusted he heard a loud thud from the bedroom. He turned off the water and listened for a minute, but there was just silence.

"John? You all right?" Ianto called out. 

The bathroom door slowly swung open, revealing a smirking Jack. He leaned against the door frame, waggled his eyebrows and said, "You naughty Welshman." 

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Nothing happened." 

"You know, Ianto, if you wanted a swap, all you had to do was ask," Jack said. 

Ianto snorted. "John suggested we sleep in the same bed because we were both having trouble sleeping alone. The sleep deprivation combined with the jet lag must have induced some sort of temporary insanity."

Jack laughed. "That's sorta sweet." He jerked his head back towards the room. "You know, I wouldn't mind if you ever wanted to-"

"You're back early," Ianto interrupted, not wanting his husband to finish that sentence. He turned the water back on and stepped into the shower.

Jack sighed and said, "It was a waste of time. That guy in New York wasn't coherent and Don Howard wouldn't talk to us. I got the feeling he hasn't exactly been treated well by law enforcement." 

Ianto made an annoyed noise as he soaped himself. "I was really hoping it would pan out."

"If he won't talk to us, he won't talk to us. Some of the leads won't go anywhere, Yan," Jack said, shrugging. "You know that's the nature of investigation." 

As he rinsed off, he said, "Ethan's getting a lot of pressure to move forward with the under cover mission." 

"That's too dangerous, Ianto. We don't have any idea what they're doing to these women. I mean, yeah, they cured the cystic fibrosis, but they also swapped those kids eyes for kicks." 

"They're not outside the government like us. He might not have a choice." Ianto stepped out of the shower and began drying himself off.  "If Ethan doesn't play ball, who's to say they won't replace him? And then what, Jack? Having an ally who understands on this side of the Atlantic is important. The administration is going to be changing next year and then who knows what will happen."

Jack drank the sight of his husband's body and let out a contented sigh. "How long do we have before we need to get to MiB?" 

After licking his lips, Jack sank to his knees. He ran his hands up and down Ianto's damp thighs. "We have a few minutes, right?" 

Ianto grabbed his rapidly filling shaft, tracing Jack's lips with the crown. "I think we can spare a few minutes." 

Hart leaned into the room and put a bottle of lube onto the vanity. "Just in case." 

"OUT!" Ianto shouted. 

Hart winked and left the room, shutting the door behind him. Ianto didn't have time to complain or stay indignant, because Jack's talented mouth had swallowed him to the root. With a howl, Ianto grabbed onto the towel bar to steady himself. His eyes rolled back as he twisted his fingers into Jack's hair. 

"Oh God..." he moaned. 

Jack's hands came up and he rolled Ianto's balls in one hand while the other kneaded Ianto's arse. 

"Jack..." he gasped. His hard cock slid down Jack's throat which spasmed around the sensitive head, massaging it. "Jack..." 

Ianto closed his eyes. Knowing Jack's limits, he thrust with his hips, fucking his mouth with abandon. He heard Jack gasping and felt the occasional gag around his cock, but gave himself over to the sensations. He spiraled towards his orgasm, gripping Jack's hair with both his hands. 

"Fuck... so good..." he moaned. 

With one final thrust of his hips, Ianto grunted his release. Jack swallowed him down with a cough and a choking noise. Ianto pulled back, a lopsided grin on his face. There was a dribble of come running down Jack's chin that he swept into his mouth as he sat back on his heels. 

Ianto knelt down and reached for Jack's trousers. He undid the belt, button and flies, then shoved his hand inside. When his hand encountered something hot and sticky, he threw his head back and laughed. Jack laughed as they kissed. 

"I love you, Ianto."  

"I love you too." Ianto looked down at his groin. "I think I need another shower." 

"I'll join you this time." 

Ianto groaned. "We're going to be late." 

Jack's head snapped up at the sound of a feminine shout. He laughed. "Guess we're not the only ones."

* * *

It was mid-morning by the time the Torchwood team got to MiB headquarters. Donovan gathered them around the conference table along with Purser and Alicia. He listened carefully as Miranda and Jack informed him of what had happened with Washington and Howard. Donovan looked more and more frustrated the longer they spoke. 

After twisting a few times in his chair, Donovan said to Purser, "I think we need to move forward with the under cover operation."

"Woah, woah," Jack said, waving his hand. "Ethan, we've only been here a few days."

"Jack, the decision to bring you guys in on this was not a popular one. I need more results than this," Donovan said.

Hart said, "I've passed out the list of released convicts who had missing persons reports retracted to your field offices."

"That kind of canvassing is going to take time we don't have," Donovan said. He turned to Purser again. "I'd like to get your opinions on the under cover mission. How about you go over it, Chris?"

Purser sat forward. "In an effort to make this as safe as possible, we're going to be implanting a GPS tracking device disguised as a pacemaker. The larger device will give us a better signal strength in case they're in orbit." 

"They've got interstellar travel, they'll be able to pick up a signal. Any signal," Jack said. 

"To limit detection, Alicia will be able to turn the device on and off via a subcutaneous pad," Purser said. 

"You have no way of knowing whether or not any signal would get through either," Jack countered.

Clearly frustrated, Purser said, "Well, Captain Harkness, this is all we have. If Doctor Ryan would reconsider-"

Jack stood and roared, "Now wait a minute! Whether or not Will is the one going has nothing to do with that." 

"HEY!" Alicia snapped. All heads swivelled in her direction. "Doctor Ryan doesn't have to do anything. I'm volunteering. I know there's risks, and I'm willing to take them." She pointed to the wall. "They are grabbing women off the street. Children. People who have already been through enough and they are doing God knows what to them. I, for one, won't stand for it. So I don't care what happens to me." She sat back down, smoothing her skirt. "The GPS tracker will have to do." 

Donovan nodded. "Safe Passages has a branch in Baltimore. We're going to send Alicia back in under cover just like before." 

"Is it wise to present her to the same organisation twice?" Miranda asked. 

"It's in a completely different state, a couple time zones away with a brand new cover story. The first time, she just showed up. Now we've got more meat behind the cover ID." Purser sat back and crossed his legs. "The northeastern field office has been fabricating her cover story all day. We've got an apartment in Baltimore we've set up. Alicia and I will move in and have a couple loud arguments."

"It'd look good if someone actually knocked me around some," Alicia pointed out. 

Miranda swivelled in her seat. "I don't like it." 

"What is there to like?" Donovan said. 

The doors to the conference room swung open and Colasanto rushed into the room with a tablet in his hand. He leaned over Donovan and whispered in his ear. Donovan's eyes went wide. He nodded and put his hand up on Colasanto's shoulder as the other man slipped him the tablet. After a few nods and a nervous glance at Alicia, the Watcher left the room.

While looking down at the tablet, Donovan asked, "Alicia, you said your Aunt lives in New York?" 

"Queens," Alicia nodded. 

Donovan turned to the Torchwood team and said, "It's always been standard MiB policy to investigate claims of alien abduction. It's a largely been a waste of time, but since this new evidence, I've instructed all field offices to give it the highest priority." He turned back to Alicia and said, "The northeastern field office was looking into the report of a Jane Doe at Creedmoor Psychiatric Center raving about alien abduction." He laid the tablet on the table and pushed it towards Alicia. 

"Oh my God! Lexi!" Alicia shouted. She grabbed the tablet from Donovan.

"She's been at Creedmoor for over a month," Donovan said.

"A month?" Alicia cried.

"They're underfunded and understaffed. The northeastern field office only got her file a few days ago," Donovan replied."I've got the jet standing. Cohen will drop you all so you can pack a bag."

Hart shuddered. "Bloody air travel."

Ianto put his hand on Hart's arm. "Wait a minute, John. Alicia? Would you be opposed to teleporting?"

"Teleporting?" she asked, shocked.

Hart said, "It's a rough ride with three, Eye Candy, but if you're game, if you are."

Alicia pointed at the wrist strap. "It's safe, right?"

"Completely," Hart said. "Mostly."

Jack rolled his eyes. "The chances of something going wrong are almost nil."

"Sounds good to me," Alicia said, standing. "Let's go."

Donovan hit the intercom. "Quinn, call up the northeastern field office. Ask for the coordinates of a secluded spot our guests can use as a teleport site."

"Did you say teleport, Director?" Colasanto asked.

"Yeah you heard me right, just don't put it that way to Hassani," Donovan said. He turned off the intercom and sat down.

After a few minutes Colasanto walked into the room and handed Donovan a slip of paper. "Hassani said to give them five minutes or so."

Donovan nodded and handed the paper to Hart. "Longitude and latitude okay?"

Hart nodded and started tapping at his wrist strap. "Yeah."

Everyone took the time to say quick goodbyes. After giving Miranda one last kiss, Hart turned to Alicia and Ianto. "Ready?"

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to be like on Star Trek?" Alicia said.

"It's going to feel like you grabbed hold of a car going a hundred miles an hour. When we get there, you're going to feel like you've been squeezed out a keyhole," Hart said.

"Sounds lovely," Ianto said. 

"All in now," Hart said, holding out his hand. He slammed their joined hands down onto his wrist strap and the vortex opened, pulling them away. 

The minute they landed, Ianto dropped to all fours and vomited. His head was splitting and his insides churned. Spitting onto the grass, he said,  "I would rather have taken the jet." 

Alicia was similarly doubled over and hadn't managed to hold onto her breakfast any better than he had. Hart was the only one of them standing. His fingers were massaging his temples.

A tall woman in a black pantsuit walked over to Alicia and said, "Are you all okay?"

"Bloody rough trip with three," Hart said to her. He twisted and his neck cracked in a few places.

The woman walked over and tried to help Alicia up and her back snapped and cracked loudly. "Oh my God!"

"Agent Richards? You all right?" Ianto asked.

"I'm just trying to decide if that was a good crack or a bad crack," she said, fearful.

Ianto tried to stand, but the minute he lifted his head, he dropped back down. "My vision's blurry." 

"It'll pass in a minute," Hart said.

Alicia gagged and said, "Ugh... feels like my stomach's inside out." 

Hart walked over and said, "Just give them a few minutes. You're Agent Hassani? Captain John Hart."

"Good to meet you, Captain," she said, offering her hand. "Mr. Jones, I take it?"

Ianto nodded. "I'd shake your hand, but I don't think I can get up yet."

It was another few minutes before Ianto and Alicia managed to stagger to the waiting black limousine. Hassani climbed into the back with them and rapped on the divider. The car lurched forward. "I'm sorry for the slight delay. I had to have NYPD clear that part of the park for you."

"Couldn't find an abandoned building in Queens?" Alicia said. She rubbed at her stomach and grimaced.

Hassani opened the small fridge and distributed some water. After they'd drank, she handed each of them a tablet. "Director Donovan said that our Jane Doe is your sister, Agent Richards?"

Alicia nodded. "Lexi."

"I'm very sorry. When Director Donovan made the abduction interviews our highest priority, we hadn't gotten her file from Creedmoor. Your sister was found wandering through the World's Fair Playground, disoriented and alone, about a month ago." Hassani tapped at her own tablet and the reports shifted on their own screens. "I'm sorry to say that she has no recollection of her identity nor her past."

"Her baby?" Alicia asked.

"She was not pregnant when she was found. Once we identified her, we had her transferred her to North Shore University Hospital for a full medical evaluation. We don't have any results from that yet," Hassani said.

"I want to see her. Now," Alicia said, standing. 

"And that's where we're taking you," Hassani said. More gently, she said, "Agent Richards, your sister isn't coherent. When Agent Jang interviewed her, she was restrained and by the time he left, she needed to be sedated."

The drive to the hospital wasn't as long as Ianto thought it would be and Alicia spent most of it staring out the window. Ianto slipped his hand into hers. He gave her a reassuring squeeze when they arrived at the hospital. Hart and Ianto flanked Alicia as they walked through the hospital in silent support. Hassani flashed her federal badge and they gained access to the psychiatric section. 

"Ah, Agent Hassani, good to see you again," a young nurse said to her. "Can I offer you a cup of what barely counts as coffee?" 

"No thanks, Nurse Park. My stomach's still recovering from the last time," she said, smiling.

After clearing his throat, the nurse asked, "Maybe we could grab something better? I could buy you something that'll send you into sugar shock at Starbucks?" 

Ianto hated to cockblock the poor bloke, but he could feel Alicia restlessness beside him. He cleared his throat, loudly. 

His smile vanished and he stammered, "Oh, sorry. Hi. Neil Park, psychiatric nurse practitioner."

"Ianto Jones," he said, offering his hand. "Captain John Hart. Agent Alicia Richards. The Jane Doe?"

Park gave Hart's red jacket a quirk of his eyebrow then waved at another staff member with a laptop. "Oh, yeah, uh, we moved her to a private room like you requested. They had to sedate her for all the tests. Everything on the medical side came back normal. The tentative diagnosis is a dissociative fugue state and post traumatic stress." 

He took the laptop and set it down on the counter in front of him. He tapped a few times and brought up Lexi's chart. Ianto leaned over and began to read. "So the amnesia is temporary?"

"Medicine didn't find anything wrong with her physically, so yes, we think the amnesia is temporary. I've started the usual cocktail of medications. Talk therapy would be the most effective, but she's not talking and when she does, she's incoherent. She's definitely in crisis. Right now we're working on building trust and hoping she'll open up to us." 

"Where is she?" Alicia demanded, stepping forward. 

"She was asleep last I checked. Medicine had to dose her pretty hard for the tests," Park replied, but gestured down the hallway. "Last room on your left..." 

Without waiting for another word, Alicia walked down the hallway as fast as she could. Park call after her.

"But you shouldn't go in alone..." The nurse sighed and rushed after her. "Wait, please!" With his hand up, he put himself in Alicia's path. "Please. It's very hard to get someone with these kinds of reality breaks to trust us. If you say or do the wrong thing, it could do irreparable damage. I don't care if she's a Jane Doe-"

"She's my sister," Alicia said.

"Your... your sister?" Park gasped.

Alicia tried to push passed him and Park grabbed her. "Wait, wait. I didn't know. Look I didn't know. I'm sorry." He dragged Alicia over to the side. "Your sister is very sick. She's likely experienced some sort of major traumatic event to trigger this. She probably won't recognise you or even acknowledge your presence."

"I have to see her. She's been missing for nearly a year," Alicia said.

"What's her name?" he asked.

"Lexi."

"Let me do the talking, all right? Don't approach her. No sudden movements."

Only after everyone nodded did he allow escort them into Lexi's room. Looking small and alone, Lexi was on the bed, hugging her knees. 

"Morning, miss," Park said, putting himself between the agents and his patient. "I hear that your name is Lexi."

Lexi remained impassive, staring at some point in front of her.

"There's someone here to see you." The nurse brought Alicia forward and said, "This is your sister, Alicia."

"Lexi?" Alicia said, quietly.

At the sound of her sister's voice, Lexi began rocking back and forth. "Not there... not there..." 

Tears began collecting in Alicia's eyes and her voice shook. "Lexi? Oh, Lexi, what have they done to you?"

"Not there... not there..." Lexi clamped her hands over her ears and rocked back and forth harder.  

As Lexi began yanking at her hair, Park pulled Alicia back. "I'm sorry. I don't want to risk upsetting her any more."

"Where's her chart?" Alicia demanded. "What happened to her baby?"

"Baby?" Park asked, alarmed. 

"When she went missing, she was pregnant," Alicia said. 

"We found no evidence of pregnancy. But if she suffered a miscarriage or had an abortion that could explain the state she's in. The aliens who traumatized her could be a surrogate for her own guilt," Park said. 

"What lovely psycho-babble," Hart said, rolling his eyes. He stepped forward with his arm raised. After tapping at his wrist strap, a green beam emerged, scanning Lexi. It terrified Lexi who screeched and curled up on her side. She began frantically kicking at the blankets and screaming.  

Park hit a button on the wall to summon help. He grabbed Hart's arm, dragging him away. "Is this a fucking joke to you? Do you realize she thinks aliens kidnapped her and experimented on her? You're not making this any better by flashing lights at her! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" 

Ianto stepped between them and Park turned to his patient. “Lexi? It's all right. They're not going to hurt you.”

The two assistants entered the room, one carrying a syringe. Park took the syringe and as the men held Lexi down, injected it into her arm. He sighed as Lexi became still. “These interviews are upsetting her. They're setting back her recovery.”

Hart rolled his eyes. “You keep sedating her, and we need to keep coming back.”

Park rounded on him. “She needs help, not be badgered by a bunch of federal agents with nothing better to do! What information can you possibly want from her?”

Pulling out the creative PR, Ianto said, “Lexi may have escaped from a human trafficking ring. She may have important information that could lead us to others who've disappeared.”

Park gestured at her. “Look, I'm sorry other women are missing, but Lexi is my primary concern.”

“And your commitment to your patient is commendable, Nurse Park.” He turned to the other MiB agent and said, "Please step back, please. Agent Hassani, if you could escort Nurse Park into the hallway please." 

Once Hassani led Park from the room, Ianto leaned over Hart's shoulder. "What did you find?"

"Pregnancy terminated at 18 weeks, roughly. I can't tell if it was a miscarriage or if they did something to her." Hart glanced back at Alicia and lowered his voice. "I can tell you why she's cuckoo for cocoa puffs. They've tried to wipe her memory but it went wrong. She's got brain damage. This isn't a fugue state from trauma or a psychotic break. They tried to rewire her brain and rewrite memories and they short circuited her."

"Can we do anything?" Ianto asked. 

Hart shook his head sadly. "You can't unscramble an egg, Eye Candy."

As Hart continued to read the display, a disturbing look came over his face. 

"What is it?" Ianto asked. 

"Nothing," Hart said, shrugging. "This is just creepy as fuck."

A loud sigh made Ianto turn. Hassani had entered the room. Ianto jerked his head towards Alicia and said, "Will you stay with her."

After Hart nodded, Ianto turned and led Hassani back out into the hallway. "Agent Hassani, a moment please?"

Once Hassani and Ianto were in the hallway, Ianto shut the door. After scanning around for other staff, he said, "Our scanning device has shown Lexi to be suffering from severe brain damage. The aliens attempted to wipe the memory and caused what the doctors here have diagnosed as mental illness. I'm not convinced she's medically sound. Can MiB doctors examine her? If not I can call in UNIT." 

"I can arrange her transfer to the facility holding the Simms twins. It would be the easiest way," she said. She took out her mobile and walked away as she dialled.

Ianto went back into Lexi's room and knelt down next to Alicia.

"Alicia, Captain Hart's scanned your sister, and..." he trailed off, unsure how to continue.

"She's not like this because of PTSD, is she?" Alicia wiped more tears from he cheeks. 

Ianto shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not. Whatever they did to try and wipe her memory did damage. I'm having Agent Hassani transfer her to the same hospital as the Simms girls for more evaluation, see if there's anything we can do for her."

She schooled her features and wiped her eyes one last time. "We need to get back to headquarters. I have to get ready for the mission." 

"Alicia-"

"Look what they've done to her! They've done this to who knows how many people and they're still doing it! It ends. Now," she cried in a harsh whisper. She stood up and walked towards the bed. She picked up her sister's hand and said, "Lexi? I have to go, okay, but I'll be back. I promise." 

Sleepily, Lexi opened her eyes. “Ally?”

“Oh my God, Lexi... Lexi?”

She sobbed out, "They'll steal your soul too." 

Ianto asked, "Who stole your soul, Lexi?" 

"It's not me. This isn't me." She started to sob and Hart walked over to her. He slipped his hand onto her shoulder, beneath her gown. A look of deep concentration came over his face.

Lexi's eyes opened and she said, “Ally? Ally... I want her back... make them give her back... Ally..."

Horrified, Alicia said, "Lexi? Did they take your baby?"

More tears leaked from Lexi's eyes. "Too little... she's too little...”

Disgusted, Hart put his hand on her shoulder. With the same focused look on his face, Lexi calmed. Her eyes fluttered shut as she slipped into sleep.

Alicia began to flee the room. "Oh my God."

Ianto bolted after her, finding her hunched over, hyperventilating. He took her into his arms, rubbing circles on her back. Noticing her distress, Park walked over.

Ianto led her to the nurses' station and set her down. He took a pill vial from his pocket and handed one to Alicia. "It's a sedative. Take it." 

Park scurried away to get her some water and Hart appeared behind him. Ianto asked, "What was that you did to her?"

"I'm a low level empath, Eye Candy. I can't pick anything up randomly, but if there's physical contact and I concentrate I can send or receive a vibe or two." He rolls his shoulders and sighed. "Bloody exhausting though. Takes a lot of effort. Give me a headache sometimes."

"Let's get Alicia back to the safe house. I want her to rest and you too," Ianto said. He rolled another chair over for Hart. "Sit."

Without argument, the fifty-first century man sat. Park appeared with a paper cup of water and handed it to Alicia, then turned to Hart. "You okay?" 

Hart nodded, squeezing the bridge of his nose. "I could use some Paracetamol." 

Ianto dug back into his pocket for the pill vial.

Hassani returned and said, "They'll transport her to New Jersey tonight."

Ianto nodded. "Thank you, Agent Hassani. Do you have somewhere we could rest?"

"There's an MiB safehouse further out on the island and one in the city. Which one do you want to use?" she asked. 

"Which ever one is closer," Ianto replied. 

She nodded and took out her mobile. Within a half hour, Ianto and the others found themselves in a small house situated in a suburb of the city. Thankfully, Alicia seemed to have put aside the idea of rushing back to Washington and into a deep cover assignment. While Hart and Alicia went to lie down. Ianto sat down in the lounge and rang MiB headquarters. He toed off his shoes and sat back in the ancient recliner. The house's decor reminded him of his gran's. After jumping through the usual code verification hoops, he waited. 

"Deputy Director Purser's office. Colosanto  speaking."

"Agent Colasanto, is Director Donovan available?"

"Give me a moment," Colasanto said. 

After a few seconds of silence, Jack came on the line. "Hey, Yan, Ethan's on his way back from a lunch meeting. What's going on?"

Ianto briefly outlined what happened at the hospital. "John said they've done brain damage. She won't ever be right again. They did some terrible things to her, Jack. I think she'd be in a right state without the brain damage."

"You said they arranging a transfer?"

Ianto toed off his shoes and said, "To the same hospital as the Simms girls. I think MiB's doctors should look at her. Calling in someone from UNIT wouldn't be a bad thing either."

"Are you all right?" Jack asked.

"No, I'm not," Ianto replied. He scrubbed at his face. "We'll talk when I get back. Is Mandy there?" 

"Yeah, hang on a second. Hey, Will? It's Ianto."

"Ifan?" Miranda asked.

"Hi Mandy, do me a favour and move yourself somewhere private where you won't be overhead," Ianto said. 

"Give me a moment," Miranda said. 

Ianto heard the sounds of the MiB squad room and Miranda's boots on the floor. As she found somewhere private, Ianto carefully arranged what he wanted to say. The sound of the squad room vanished as he heard a door close.

"Go ahead, Ifan, what's wrong?" she said, concerned. 

"Mandy, I'd like for you to reconsider the undercover mission," he said. 

"Ifan, I've made my objections clear-"

"I'm an immortal of the Game too, Mandy. I understand why it's a risk, but who's to say they haven't abducted one of us already? They've abducted what's likely thousands of people across the globe." 

"Probabilities are different than certainties, Ifan. It is extremely unlikely that one of the people they've abducted is an immortal or even a pre-born. Sending me into deep cover gives them an immortal with one hundred percent certainty." 

"Yes, it does, and compared to what they're doing to the people they're abducting? I think it's an acceptable risk." Ianto stood and began to slowly pace the lounge. 

"It is not an acceptable risk to me, Ifan. What if these people have come to Earth with notions of conquest? Or extermination?"

"All the more reason this is important." He took a deep breath and then spoke with deliberate slowness. "I have this recurring dream, a nightmare really. The world is a wasteland, the human race is gone and the only person wandering the crumbled buildings and roads... is Jack."

Miranda was silent for a few moments then said, "I will take Alicia's place."

 


	6. Chapter 6

Like everyone else seated around the conference room table, Ianto Jones wished Purser had updated Alicia privately before this briefing. Instead, the MiB Deputy Director had chosen to tell her that Miranda was going undercover in front of everyone. Now, they were all witness to the normally docile and polite Alicia Richards arguing loudly with him. 

Ianto leaned into his teacher and said, quietly, "You know telling her the truth would bring this argument to a close."

"I know," she whispered. "At this point, I'm perfectly willing to inform her, but I do not know how Purser feels and it's not our place to out him. He must work with her on a daily basis."

"I feel like our immortality is becoming the worst kept secret in the world," Ianto said, sighing.

Miranda nodded and the sound of Alicia's raised voice brought their heads up. 

Miranda muttered, "The lady doth protest too much methinks." 

"This is _my_ case, Deputy Director Purser. We wouldn't even know about any of this if my sister hadn't vanished. I've already volunteered. No offence to Doctor Ryan," Alicia said, glancing in Miranda's direction as she did every time she said this, "but I have lived and breathed this case for nearly a year." 

Exasperated, Purser said, "Agent Richards, your willingness to endanger yourself and volunteer for this assignment is admirable, but Doctor Ryan will be going."

"I know more about this case than anyone here, Deputy Director. Sending in someone who is unfamiliar with its particulars could endanger the entire mission," Alicia argued. She turned to Miranda and said, "No offence, Doctor Ryan."

"Doctor Ryan is more than capable," Purser replied.

"This isn't about Doctor Ryan's capabilities in the field. This is about her familiarity with this case."

"There are other need-to-know factors at play here."

"If they're affecting my case, Deputy Director, then I need to know-"

Donovan stood up and said, "Agent Richards, this discussion is over. Doctor Ryan will be going on the undercover mission. End of story. End of discussion. Do not make me write you up for insubordination."

Alicia stood. "Permission to speak freely, sir."

"Because you haven't been doing that already? Permission denied," Donovan said. He nodded towards the door. "You're dismissed."

As Alicia angrily stood and strode towards the door, Miranda called out, "Agent Richards, please wait." She turned towards Donovan and Purser. "I think she does need to know."

Alicia halted and turned back towards the table, a surprised look on her face. 

"You don't speak for everyone here," Donovan said.

Purser said, "I don't have an issue. I didn't want to speak for Doctor Ryan or Mr. Jones."

"Ianto?" Donovan asked.

The Welshman shrugged and said, "No arguments."

"There's no easy way to tell you this, Alicia," Purser said, sighing. 

"Tell me what?" Alicia asked, sitting back down.

Miranda knocked lightly on the table. "I've found demonstration to be the most effective means." She slipped a blade from her belt. Jack tossed his handkerchief across the table and she buried the blade in her forearm.

"Woah!" Alicia cried. She leapt to her feet and reached for Miranda's arm. "Oh my God, why would you do that?" 

Miranda pushed Alicia's hands away. After wiping away the blood, she turned the healing wound to Alicia. "I am immortal, Agent Richards. I am going because the risk to me is minimal even though there are still ways I may die."

Alicia slowly sat back down, her jaw slack. "Immortal like Joe's husband, Henry?" She immediately put her hands over her mouth. "Oops. I'm sorry. Joe told me when he was here. He swore me to secrecy."

Ianto leaned forward, clasping his hands in front of him on the table. "Yes, we are exactly like Henry."

Alicia's eyes widened as she pointed in Ianto's direction. "You're immortal too?" She looked around at them and asked, sarcastically, "Anyone else?"

Purser knocked at the table and waved. Alicia's finger drifted in his direction. "You too? You're... immortal?"

Ianto nodded and said, "It's more accurate to say we're eternally resurrecting." 

Purser let out a half snort, half laugh. "I never thought about it like that. That's a good way to describe it." 

Alicia asked, "Four of the seven people in this room are immortal. I'm feeling like I got shortchanged somewhere."

"This is not a normal distribution and our population demographics are irrelevant. And immortality comes at a price," Miranda said. "Now that yet another person knows about us, can we please continue?"

"Wait," Alicia said. She turned to Miranda and asked, "So that's why they wanted to use you in the first place? Because you're immortal?" 

Miranda nodded. "I initially refused because I was unwilling to allow an alien species experimenting on the population access to an immortal physiology. I considered it a foolish risk-"

"It is a foolish risk!" Alicia said. "They'd probably experiment on you forever to figure out what makes you tick." 

Miranda said loudly, over her, "-but I have reconsidered."

"This is ridiculous," Alicia said, standing again. "There's risks if I go. There's risks if she goes. It's the same difference." 

"My death isn't permanent, Agent Richards. That is a significant difference," Miranda said. 

"You said there are ways you can die," Alicia retorted. 

Donovan pulled his lips back and whistled. The nearly deafening sound halted the argument.

Ianto muttered, "I wish Fish would stop teaching that to people."

Donovan bellowed, "All right, that's enough!" When silence fell, he continued at a lower volume, "Miranda's going end of story. Your mother's already lost one daughter and she's not losing another one on my watch." He turned to Purser and said, "Continue, Chris." 

Purser stood and cleared his throat. He tapped the tablet in his hand. "These are the tracking devices we're going to be using. They're designed specifically for this purpose and for use by an immortal. It's a pacemaker, carefully designed to conceal the fact that it's a transmitter." He pointed at one of the wires coming off the device. "This pad will be placed underneath your skin your left side. It's to activate the self-termination and start the signal."

Alicia's eyes went wide. "You're sending her on a suicide mission?"

"Suicide is a temporary inconvenience," Miranda replied.

"Right now it's wired so that a short sequence of taps will cause the pacemaker to fire a fatal electrical shock to your heart," Purser said.

Donovan shook his head. "That won't work, Chris. She's going to pop right back up from something like that. I know from experience."

Purser shrugged. "We can change the self termination option. We can make it do something else-a lethal dose of medicine or some poison like cyanide." 

"Won't that tip them off if they do an autopsy?" Alicia asked.

"It will. They'll know it isn't a pacemaker the minute they open the casing. It's another risk," Purser said.

Miranda twirled the small blade around her fingers before slipping it back into her belt. "All I really need is something sharp on my person."

Ianto turned towards Miranda and said, "Ideally you need to stay down as long as possible. You might want to consider the cyanide, Mandy. Jacob Rosen told me that it takes a long time to recover from."

"I've never died by cyanide poisoning. I have no idea how long it would take," Miranda said, frowning.

Purser sat back down, then leaned forward, lacing his fingers on the table top. "We'd like to test the entire process from start to finish first. We can time the cyanide at that point as well. We have no idea if your immortal physiology will permit the pacemaker, it may push it out. Then we'd like to test the implant itself, make sure it performs as expected inside your chest. Once you self-terminate, satellites around the globe will be scanning for the signal. When it appears, we'll pinpoint your location."

"What if I'm in orbit?" Miranda asked. 

"We were hoping your husband won't mind being your knight in shining armour, and come to your rescue," Purser said.

"I've got you covered, Dollface," Hart said, holding up his wrist. 

Miranda nodded in agreement. "Is everything in place for the backstory?"

Donovan turned in his chair. "We've got you an apartment in a pretty rough part of Baltimore. We just need a volunteer to move in with you and establish the abuse cover story."

For some reason, everyone's eyes swiveled in Hart's direction. He gave them all a look of disgust. "No. I'm not abusing my own wife, even for show."

"Jack and I do explosive reasonably well," Miranda said. 

When Jack frowned, Ianto said, "You and I have done the under cover domestic thing before, Mandy, and regularly kick each others' arses."

"Ianto it is," Donovan said.

Purser looked at Miranda and said with skepticism, "Do you think you can pull off scared, battered woman?"

Miranda raised an offended eyebrow. "You don't know me, Mr. Purser." 

Donovan said, "There's a black site in Virginia. That's where we'll take Miranda for the test run." He turned to Miranda and said, "We'd like that to happen as soon as possible." 

Purser turned to Ianto. "Ethan tells me you have a drug that can wipe memories. To safeguard our secret, the facility is going to be evacuated and I'll be conducting the test alone, but I'd like to wipe the medical team's memories of placing the device as they'll likely see evidence of immortal healing." 

Alicia said, hotly, "Look at what memory wiping did to my sister!" 

Hart interjected, "They damaged your sister when they tried to implant false memories and rearrange what was already there. Our drug doesn't do that. Retcon blocks access to memories. It doesn't erase or rearrange them."

"Retcon has been extensively field tested, Agent Richards. There's no adverse effects. I can supply you with doses for the medical team that will wipe several hours," Ianto replied.

Donovan stood up and said, "We have a plan. Let's get moving." 

When Hart turned to his wife and clasped her hands, Ianto overheard a heart-felt farewell. To give the couple privacy, he stood up and turned to Donovan. Jack stood with him and followed.

"How long do you think this test will take?" Jack asked. 

Donovan shrugged and waved his hand. "Depends on her more than anything. I'd say it's going to be at least two days. Hey, since we're kinda in a holding pattern, you two wanna have dinner with me and Carol tonight? Our treat. There's this great new bistro in Georgetown."

Ianto said, "Sounds great, Ethan. We'd love to."

With his hands on Ianto's shouder, Jack said, "Yeah, sounds good."

Jack turned as Hart tapped him on the shoulder. He asked Jack something in Ekumen. It seems that no matter what the language, the change of pitch for questions was universal. Ianto had been trying to get Jack to teach him the futuristic language, but he'd refused. Maybe he would have better luck asking Miranda.

"Ethan, mind if we use your office?" Jack asked.

"Go ahead, Jack."

Once Hart and Jack had retreated, Alicia took Hart's vacant seat. She started to speak to Miranda in a low voice, uttering some sort of apology Ianto couldn't make out. 

Donovan interrupted his attempt at eavesdropping. He jerked his head towards them and asked Ianto, "How'd you get her to change her mind?"

"I appealed to her sense of greater good," Ianto said.

"I was shocked as shit she refused. I mean, it's a valid point and something Chris and I considered, but when I was with you guys she was always tossing herself in front of people. I thought there was no way she'd say no," Donovan said.

"What had her saying no was the same thing that has her saying yes," Ianto pointed out. He lowered his voice and said, "She's old, Ethan, and for those of us who get that old, the Game is all there is. She said no to protect it. She also said yes to protect it." 

Donovan looked at Miranda then immediately turned back to Ianto. "Can I ask you something, Ianto?"

"Uh, sure."

"Is Henry really who the fuck I think he is?" Donovan asked.

Ianto laughed. He'd expected the usual question about Miranda's age. "Well who the fuck do you think he is?"

"Henry VIII's illegitimate son," Donovan whispered.

It wasn't Ianto's place to out the Duke, but as Donovan had figured it out himself, Ianto nodded.

Donovan let out a low whistle. "You know, when I was across the pond with you guys, she was always calling him 'Lord Richmond' or 'Your Grace.' When I got home, I looked him up. Typed 'Lord Henry Richmond' into Google and that was the first thing that popped up. I nearly shit myself." He smirked. "Never met royalty before. We tossed a bunch of tea in a harbor and told old King George to go fuck himself, but I still felt like I probably should've bowed to him or something."

"Henry wouldn't have liked that at all," Ianto said, smiling. "But if you want to join the club of those of us who tease him relentlessly..."

The two of them laughed heartily.

Abruptly, Donovan sobered. "I can't imagine that, man. I don't mean being the son of a famous historical figure, even though I can't fucking imagine that either. But being five hundred years old? I mean, what a mind fuck.Though the modern acceptance of homosexuality is probably a big plus for him, to grow up in the sixteenth century and end up in the twenty-first having a fucking smartphone?"

"Not something I'm looking forward to," Ianto confided.

Donovan winced, "I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean to poke at a sore or nothing."

Ianto shrugged and confided, "You didn't. It's just something that weighs on me sometimes."

Miranda stood and Ianto gave her a brief kiss on her cheek as she walked past them towards Cohen who would drive her to the black site. She glanced at him and then Alicia. Ianto looked over to her and saw the young MiB agent trying to compose herself. He nodded at Miranda who squeezed his hand and kissed his shoulder before walking away. Ianto was about to join Alicia at the table, when she rose and walked stiffly out of the room. 

Ianto left the conference room. He caught Colasanto's eye and flicked his gaze to Alicia. Thankfully, Colasanto understood. He inserted his keys into his desk, locking it and said, "I've got a craving for pho. You want anything, Alicia?"

Alicia didn't speak, just shook her head. She didn't even look up to watch Colasanto retreat. 

Ianto mouthed his thanks and put his hand on Alicia's shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"Fine, Mr. Jones, thank you," she said, tersely.

After reaching into his pocket for his own handkerchief, he pulled Colasanto's chair around to sit next to her. He handed her the square of cloth and said, "I doubt that very much."

Alicia looked up and after ensuring they were alone said, "I just don't know what to do with any of this. I mean, I get that aliens are our job here, but this... I don't know what to do with it. I'm a Marine and I feel wholly unequipped here."

Ianto said, "I started out working for Torchwood One. It was a 9 to 5 office job in London. I put on a suit and rode the Tube like every other commuter. I started dating someone at the office. We moved in together. I was going to ask her to marry me. It was all so normal. Until it wasn't."

"Cybermen," Alicia whispered.

"Cybermen," Ianto nodded. "They took the woman I loved and violated her body and destroyed her soul. I tried to save her, but I couldn't. I didn't know what to do with any of that either. The pain was so constant, like my stomach was full of rats. It felt like that all the time, like it was all I was. There wasn't an inch of me that didn't hurt."

Alicia nodded. "I haven't told Mom anything yet so the hospital keeps calling me and asking me what to do. I don't know what to tell them. I don't know what to tell my Mom." With a rueful laugh she said, "I mean, I obviously can't tell her the truth. Could you imagine? 'Hi Mom! I found Lexi but she can never come home because aliens messed with her brain. Sucks huh? Sorry.'"

She burst out a sob and Ianto put his arm around her. She said, "I'm sorry."

"You've no reason to apologise," he insisted.

"When Dad left, Mom couldn't take it. She totally checked out on us. She worked so hard to support us-two or three jobs sometimes. She was always so exhausted and overwhelmed. When Lexi started rebelling and acting out, it was just one more thing for Mom to worry about and she couldn't handle it. She just let it go on because it was too hard to fight it. When Lexi vanished, she just curled in on herself and started talking about her like she was already dead." She paused and then let out in a terrified whisper, "Sometimes I think it'd be better to let her believe that."

"Could you live with that?" Ianto asked, cradling her against his chest.

Alicia sat up, pulling out of his embrace. She gaped at him. "How could you not think I'm the worst person ever for even suggesting it?" 

Ianto shook his head. "Of course not. Some people need to keep hope alive. Some people need closure. The problem is that you don't know how she'll react until you tell her."

"She already told me she thinks Lexi is dead," Alicia said.

"She could be preparing herself for the worst," Ianto pointed out.

"Maybe. It just reminds me of when Lexi started ditching school and doing drugs." She shook her head and wiped her nose. "I'd go to her every day and tell her how Lexi was cutting class and smoking pot and she'd shrug and say there was nothing she could do, that Lexi wouldn't listen to her anyway, like she'd already given up."

"But you didn't."

"I'd ground her. One time I caught her in bed with her boyfriend. I took the door off her room. She just needed structure and to know someone cared," she said. Tears began to run down her face. "I'm her big sister. I'm supposed to look out for her. I'm supposed to be there for her. Protect her."

Ianto pulled her back into his arms. "Alicia, stop. Do not blame yourself. This isn't your fault." 

She slid her hand up around Ianto's neck. "It feels like it is. When she dropped out of school, I was buried in work. I should've taken a leave of absence. I should've straightened her out again."

He ran his fingers through her hair as she started to cry. His heart ached for her. Leaning, he saw  Purser's office was empty. He stood up with her in his arms and walked her into the room, shutting the door behind them. After sitting them down side by side on Purser's sofa, he gently rocked her back and forth, whispering soft Welsh words to her as she cried. Eventually, she was only letting out a few gentle hiccups. He leaned back a little and got a strong whiff of her perfume. Gently, he brushed his thumb across her cheek. 

"Sometimes a good cry is just what's in order," he said, softly.

She looked up at him with a sad smile. "You hardly know me and I'm here spilling my guts at you."

Ianto gave her a soft smile, staring into her blue eyes. The vulnerability tugged at his heart and the moment stretched out between them. As they started to lean towards each other, Alicia bolted upright. "Oh my God. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry! I don't know what just came over me!"

She stood up and backed away from the sofa. "I'm so embarrassed. I just spilled my guts to you and then I nearly kissed you. And, oh my God, I've cried make-up all over your suit!"

He looked down and saw the make-up smudges on his shirt, along with a wet slimy spot. He let out a laugh. "It's all right, Alicia."

"This is so not okay. You're married. You're gay. What the fuck is wrong with me?" she said.

Her face was so red, it reminded him of Fish. He stood up and held out his hand. "Alicia, really, it's all right. You're upset and you're vulnerable. You were reaching out and I understand. It's okay." 

The blush was spreading down her neck as she walked to the door. "Excuse me..."

Just as she reached for the knob, Hart opened it. "Ah, Peaches, there you are."

"Captain Hart, this really isn't a good time," she said.

Hart looked from Ianto to Alicia and back again. "Oh, sorry."

The blush had started to fade, but returned full force. "Not like that." Flustered, she said, "What can I help you with, Captain Hart?"

Hart cleared his throat and said, "I'm sorry... Agent Richards. I know you and your sister have been through a lot and I'm sorry to even ask. But I need your permission to run a test on your sister." 

"A test? What kind of test?" Alicia asked. 

"I need a sample of her ovarian tissue analysed," he said. 

"What? Why?" she cried. "After what they did to her, you want to violate her even more with some sort of invasive test?" 

Hart raised his hands and said, "Alicia, I understand you're upset but there could be timeline implications her." 

"Timeline implications? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she asked. 

"It means that things are going on here that will affect the future-" 

"No, Captain. I'm sorry, but Lexi's been through enough." 

He ran his hand through his hair and said, "Agent Richards-" 

Alicia began to tremble. "No! No more! I need to think about what's best for Lexi now. She's been through enough and I have to protect her."

As she started to cry again, Ianto stepped forward and took her into his arms again. He threw Hart a nasty look and with a muttered apology, the fifty-first century man left the room. 

"I'll be right back," Ianto said, kissing her head. 

He stepped towards the door and hissed at Hart, "I just got her calm, John. Why would you ask such a thing?" 

Hart narrowed his eyes at him and said, "Eye Candy, you better pray to whatever Gods you worship that this isn't what I think it is. Because if it is? Peaches is going to be way more upset than that."


	7. Chapter 7

After the successful implant test run, Ianto and Miranda moved into the Baltimore apartment and began their life of domestic disaster. Hart wasn't sure if it was harder on him or Jack. While Jack spent a lot of time on various Washington DC roofs, Hart investigated his suspicions regarding the abductions. 

When he'd presented his concerns to Jack, his former partner had brushed him off and proclaimed the venture a waste of time. When they'd been Time Agents, he and Jack had investigated leads with less, and now Hart was on his own. His former partner might be in denial, but Hart didn't let Jack dissuade him. If he wanted to stick his head in the sand, fine. He'd just have to find more proof to convince Jack he was right, because like it or not, he needed the Torchwood captain. If he was right, and he knew he was, this was going to be a catastrophe all around. 

Unwilling to wait for MiB's field reports, Hart used his wrist strap to travel all over the country and speak to suspected abductees. None of them were willing to submit to testing and most wouldn't even talk to him. In his Time Agency days, he would've taken what he needed, permission optional, but since he was turning over a new leaf, he bypassed the idea of assault and battery. These people had been through enough. 

His investigation went nowhere, but it occupied him well enough during the three agonising weeks that followed Miranda and Ianto's departure. Hart didn't envy Ianto his job. Throughout his childhood, he'd witnessed his father systematically abusing his mother to the point of suicide. His father had been so controlling, his grip like a strangling vine, draining the nutrients from his mother's spirit, withering her. She was never allowed out of their flat and her children were punished severely for even speaking with her. When she wasn't doped up on sedatives and narcotics, she had a bottle in her hand. 

Hart had seen pictures of her from before-a beautiful woman with vibrant and expressive eyes. Towards the end she was sallow and sunken. Her "caretakers" were charged with forcing food down her throat to keep her alive. Hart had only been eight years old when he'd seen his mother in the lounge, standing by the balcony door. It was the first time he'd seen her out of bed in months, if not all year. All she did was point at the balcony door's keypad. Taking pity on her, Hart had tapped out the access code. The code had been a carefully guarded secret he'd kept so that one day he might escape himself. It had been his first and only gift to his mother. She'd bent down, kissed his head and thanked him. When she'd walked to the balcony, she'd held out her hand for him, a silent invitation. Afraid, he'd refused. He'd never seen someone as at peace as his mother as she toppled over the railing, with a smile on her face. 

There was no way Hart was willing to inflict abuse, no matter how feigned, on his wife. The idea not only made his skin crawl, but made him feel physically ill. Sure, he'd done the odd kill here and there, beaten and cut more than his fair share of people, but no one who didn't deserve it a little. 

He hadn't been surprised at the worn and shaken look to Ianto when he'd returned. Ianto Jones was not the type of man who made himself feel powerful through the tearing down of others. 

Since Miranda didn't return shortly after, they assumed her abduction was successful. Everyone expected her to return almost instantaneously, but the days came and went without any sign of her. 

While they'd waited for Ianto, Jack had insisted they remain in Washington. It hadn't mattered to Hart because he could investigate his suspicions from anywhere. After a week had passed without any sign of Miranda, Jack had suggested they return to Cardiff-no doubt to give Hart a distraction in the form of rift alerts and tech tinkering. By then, Hart knew his side investigation was going nowhere, but he expected his wife to return at any moment, so he'd asked to stay. 

After another week had come and gone, Jack's suggestion became an order. It simply wasn't fair to leave a newly pregnant Gwen Cooper back in Cardiff to run Torchwood alone whilst they were all sitting in Washington DC with their dicks in their hands. There was little difference between waiting in Washington and waiting in Cardiff, so Hart finally relented. 

The work didn't distract him as well Jack seemed to think it would. Every day, they waited for news and every day MiB told them there was nothing. So, Hart continued to do his job, sifting through the tech and going out on rift alerts, but each day without Miranda was like a stone in his belly. That first night back in Cardiff, he hadn't even bothered going home. Instead, he took up residence in his old room downstairs. It was unchanged, much to his surprise. All he'd had to do was put fresh linens on the bed. He was equally relieved and upset the bed smelled neither of woodsmoke, nor jasmine. 

In the days that followed, when Hart's work was over, he retreated to the lonely room. He would kick off his shoes and shed clothes, then lie in the bed alone, his heart and body aching. It reminded him all too vividly of when he first arrived here. In the beginning, he was traveling forward to visit with her, but returning to his left hand and a lonely room had started to hurt too much. 

Without traveling forward, he had nothing to do on his days off, but lie in bed and pine. It had been a long and lonely month back in Cardiff. So, after his morning wank, he did what he always did-lie in bed, staring at his wedding ring. The circlet of gold was his only comfort. Its warmth was a constant reminder Miranda was alive. As he rolled the gold between his thumb and forefinger, the light would catch on the small Arcadian diamond, flashing and sparkling. 

 _If Jude could see me now,_  he thought with a smile. His sister would probably die laughing. 

A light knock on the door made him jump. After slipping the ring back on his finger, he rolled off the bed and opened it. 

Hart resisted the urge to roll his eyes as Ianto flushed lightly and averted his gaze. Hart didn't understand the prudishness of this century. Ianto had the same plumbing he did. _What the bloody hell is so fucking scandalous about my cock and balls?_

"John, sorry to bother you on your day off. Have you seen Six?"

Hart leaned out of the doorway, looking right and left for the feline. "Six? No, I haven't. I've never seen her, come to think. What's she look like?"

"Black with patches of stripes. She's got some white bits too," he said. 

Hart shrugged. "I've been down here a month and I haven't seen her. I'll keep an eye out though."

"She's not been eating much." Ianto lifted the bag. "I used to go through one of these every couple days. I wanted to try and take her to the vet's, but I can't find her. Today, when I went to fill her bowl, it was still full."

Sadly, Hart said, "I hate to break it to you, Eye Candy, but it sounds like she's gone and died on you." 

A pained look came over the Welshman's face. "I hope not. Cameron loved that cat, said she followed him around to different carers. He had her over twenty years. It's never a good sign when they stop eating. Especially this cat-loves to eat, she does."

Hart sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything dead. She could be hiding if she's sick, animals'll do that. Want me to help you find her?"

Ianto nodded. "No, it's all right. I don't know where she could be. She's big, you'd have seen her go past you." 

Hart shook his head and then turned around to get dressed. "No, it's fine. Give me something to do." _Besides miss her._

Grateful for the distraction, Hart stepped out into the hallway and shut the door behind him. "Let's start downstairs. She might not like me being down here if she's used to having the place to herself."

Ianto and Hart went to the end of the hallway and descended the stairs. 

Most of the utilities entered the Hub on this side and the lower levels were rooms full of pipes and conduit. 

Hart pointed at the open door. "You leave these open?" 

"More room for her. Cameron used to let her in and out so I feel bad cooping her up," Ianto said. 

The two searched, closing the doors as they went to keep her from backtracking on them. By the time they were back on the stateroom level, they were starting to wonder if Six had managed to escape to some other area of the Hub. 

"If she got upstairs, she could be anywhere," Ianto said as he opened the linen cupboard.

"If she has escaped, she'll stink up the place, pissing and shitting everywhere," Hart said as peered into the washing machine. 

"Lovely. I don't-"

"Shhhh," Hart hissed. He closed his eyes and strained his ears. Turning, he walked back out into the hallway. Again, he closed his eyes, listening. He went to Cameron's old room and stepped inside. 

"Do you hear her?" Ianto asked. 

"I heard scratching," Hart said. Wrinkling his nose at the litter pan, he said, "That smells freshly used." 

After shutting the door, Ianto started opening up the dresser drawers while Hart knelt to check underneath the bed. He saw ragged pieces of the mattress hanging down.

"Eye Candy, here," Hart said. 

Ianto knelt down beside him and Hart pointed at the hanging threads. "I think she's clawed her way inside."

Hart laid down on his back and manoeuvred himself underneath the bed. He reached out. "Yup, she's clawed a hole into the cloth. Destructive little thing, isn't she?"

Hart ran his hands over the bottom of the mattress. He paused at the corner, feeling weight. He let his hand rest lightly on the surface, feeling warmth.

"I think she's here. Maybe we can coax her out," Hart said.

"Give it a go. She hates me," Ianto said.

Automatically, Hart switched to Ekumen. In a low melodious voice, he said, "Mo-mo? Leyla mo? Ven-ven mo-mo. Bae keet-keet? Bae keet?"

To his shock, the warm lump moved and a pair of blue eyes appeared from the hole. Hart smiled at her and said, "Bae keet! Ven keet? Ven-ven plass?"

He slid out from under the bed slowly. "I think she likes me, Eye Candy." Turning, he crouched and gestured the cat forward with his hand. "Ven-ven, Six. Bae, Six. Bae keet."

They backed up and the cat emerged, blinking at them slowly. Hart didn't think she looked healthy at all. Her fur was thin, dull, and looked moth eaten. She was too skinny and her eyes were sunken a bit. _No... it can't be..._

Ianto said, "She looks awful. I'm sure that veterinary surgery will take her without an appointment when I explain how hard she is to catch." He walked over towards the carrier in the corner and picked it up. He pointed at it. "Go on, get in. You're not looking well and it's the vet's for you." 

Six blinked at him. 

"You just walked in when Cameron told you to!" Ianto cried. Frustrated he said, "Look, I know you miss him. I miss him too. He'd want you looked after properly. So, please, get into this carrier so I can take you to the vet's. You look bloody awful." 

While Ianto continued to try to reason with Six, Hart watched her carefully. He rested his hand on Ianto's arm and said, "Hold up a sec, Eye Candy."

He made a low pitched whistle. When he had Six's attention, he said, "Bae keet." He pointed at himself and the Ianto and said, "Noya John etta Ianto. Tnebo, Cameron zi. Ianto ken-ken." 

The cat looked at Hart and then Ianto. She laid down and put her head in her paws. She let out a low, sad meow.

Hart winced. _Well, that confirms it._ He apologised, "Who-we." Then asked, "Linga-u?"

He tapped the floor with his boot. Six tilted her head at Hart and then mimicked him. Hart counted each tap. 

"John, what's she doing?" Ianto gasped.

"Eshin-ii?" Hart asked and the cat dipped her head. 

"Well aren't you Doctor Doolittle," Ianto teased. 

"This isn't a cat, Eye Candy. She's a Silvestri," Hart said. He squatted down and smiled. "She probably fell through the rift." 

"You mean Cameron's cat is an alien?" Ianto asked. Distraught, he cried, "I've been treating a sentient species like a fucking pet?"

"Their sentience is debatable. When people took to the stars, we brought cats and dogs with us. We even crossbred them with a few alien cat-like species. The result's what you see here. They're clever, don't get me wrong-about the equivalent of a 3 or 4 year old-but sentient like you or I? That's a greater philosophical question." Hart tapped the bed and said, "Toota bae?"

Six hopped up and nodded. 

"Puk nada?"

She shook her head. 

"She says she feels fine," Hart said. He bent down and picked up the bag of cat food. "Diet is really important to them. She probably doesn't like this rubbish. Yeah it doesn't have enough fat in it for her."

"Cameron said she was smart and obedient for a cat. She always acted like she could understand him," Ianto said. 

"That's because she can. She's probably picked up a fair amount of English being here for so long. She obviously still understands Ekumen. I had one when I was a kid. She used to be my Mum's," Hart said. 

"Your Mum's? They live that long?" Ianto asked.  

"They can live as long as you or I." Hart paused, realizing what he'd just said. "Well, not you, Eye Candy. The oldest one on record was something like a hundred and twenty," Hart said. He walked over to Six and held out his hand. "Mitta-day?"

Six shoved her head under his hand and allowed him to pet her. "She's been here a long time. She said twenty-five years."

"I can't believe she wandered all the way up to Scotland," Ianto said. 

"They can easily wander hundreds of miles," Hart replied. 

Ianto shook his head. "As if I didn't feel badly enough for keeping her cooped up. Now I feel like an animal abuser."

"They can but it doesn't mean they need to. In the wild their territories can be massive, but you can still keep on in a typical flat."

"Do you think she'll be all right if we let her roam upstairs?"

Hart gestured around them. "Kali her ousa veno way?"

Six jumped off the bed and bolted for the staircase. 

"Well, I think there's your answer, Eye Candy." Hart followed her. "Woah, senti! Senti! Nea way-way etta... etta... I should probably get her used to English. There's other animals upstairs that might not like you and two that might eat you."

Six reared up and began scratching and pawing at the door. "Guess she'll take her chances. I'm sure she'll be fine, Eye Candy. This is one of the smartest ones I've ever seen. She's partially bilingual and can count up into the twenties. I've heard of ones this smart but they're rare."

Ianto looked at her and said, "Are you sure? I don't want you getting hurt."

Six nodded at him. 

"Your food will be in the kitchen and your litter pan will be by our loo, okay?" he said. When he opened the door, Six bolted. "Bloody menagerie we're becoming. Do you think she understood me?"

"Looks like she did," Hart said. He shrugged. "You need to feed her better. It's probably why she so skinny and her fur's falling out. She's not getting enough proper food."

"No more cat food then?" Ianto asked. 

"Red meat, the fattier the better would be great for her. She should have some greens once in a while too, but she might turn her nose up at it. Mine used to like to crunch on vegetables from time to time."

"I'll add some meat and things to the shopping. I can install a cat door into the Tourist Office to let her come and go," Ianto said. He let out a groan. "Do you suppose she's fixed?"

"Fixed?" Hart asked. 

"Sterilized." 

Hart shrugged. "Don't know. I wouldn't want that DNA getting into the native cat population. She's technically a separate species. She might not be receptive to mating with them. It'd be like you or I mating with a chimpanzee."

"Says the man who once eyed a poodle," Ianto teased. "I'll do some research. I wonder if I should get her shots or whatever is done for regular cats."

"I doubt it. Don't treat her like a cat, Eye Candy, she isn't one. Silvestri are resilient. She's been here long enough to be exposed to all sorts of disease. She's probably fine." Hart patted him on the shoulder before turning back to his room. 

Ianto paused and asked, "John, hold up a sec. I've been meaning to ask how you are."

Taken aback by the question, Hart said, "I'm hanging in there, Eye Candy."

"I'm not buying that." He reached out and rested his hand on Hart's arm. "Jack and I talked about it. If you're lonely, you're welcome to stay with us, upstairs."

Hart's eyebrows shot up. He looked down at Ianto's hand and then back up at him. "Don't get me wrong, Eye Candy, the idea of a spit roast with you and Jack is hot as fuck, but I don't like being a pity fuck any more than anyone else."

"You know you said it's all sex, sex, sex with us, but you jump to a sexual conclusion more than anyone I know," Ianto said. He rolled his eyes and said, "I meant to sleep, like we've done before. Our bed can easily hold all three of us."

Hart couldn't stop his eyebrows from raising. "Why are you being so nice to me, Eye Candy? Even Gorgeous is being friendly and used to be that woman'd sooner shit on me than give me a friendly look."

Ianto shrugged. "Sometimes you're an insufferable git, but you've changed. You're part of the team now."

He was lying. Hart had no idea why, but he didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth. He'd barely slept in the past two months.

"If you're sure it won't be a problem for you and Jack, then I accept. And thank you."

"Then we'll see you tonight. As long as you can put up with Jack's snoring, that is," he said cheerfully. 

"Get him a softer pillow," Hart advised. 

"What?" Ianto asked, surprised.

"A softer pillow will stop him snoring, trust me," Hart said. "He won't even notice when you replace it."

"I'll go to the shops today," Ianto said. Then he asked, "Have you gone to visit her in the future?"

Hart shook his head. "It was just making it worse, that. Go off, have a great time for a few weeks, then come back here to more fucking waiting."

"Look you know how I feel about all this bouncing around in her timeline, but you're bloody miserable, mate. How about you take a trip forward and I'll send a message on so she can tell you exactly when to come back. That way you'll have as little time without her as possible," Ianto suggested. 

Hart shook his head. "I appreciate the creativity, Eye Candy, but I can't leave you lot strapped like that. It's been a month. Who knows how much longer..." He took a pained breath and let it out slowly. "Joe and Henry are in Australia. Miranda's under cover. We're short and it wouldn't be right for me to go off just because..."

"Just because you miss your wife so much it hurts?" Ianto finished for him.

The pain in Hart's chest swelled. He closed his eyes and nodded. He hated needing her. He hated missing her. It made him feel weak and vulnerable and so fucking pathetic and admitting it to Ianto made it worse. But Ianto didn't shame him for his feelings. Instead, he showed him compassion.

"UNIT is helping us. I'm sure we'll be fine without you."

Hart shook his head. "Jack won't let them handle the tech. The backlog's getting out of hand."

"Why not travel backwards then?" Ianto suggested. 

As a former Time Agent, Hart could give Ianto a long list of exactly why traveling backwards was a bad idea. He didn't want to admit to Ianto he'd been considering it just because of how dangerous it was. The insanity of it was downright arousing. What made it positively scorching was the prospect of fucking his wife senseless when she had no idea who he was. Hart had been jerking off to the whole fantasy for weeks. 

Ianto put his hand on Hart's shoulder and squeezed. "I happen to know she was in London around June of 1941 on leave. She was in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. She liked to walk around Tower Bridge in the afternoons."

With a smile and a wink, Ianto left him alone. Hart started out telling himself he wasn't going to give into temptation. It was too dangerous. Shagging his wife wasn't a reason to risk all of time and space imploding. But as the sound of Ianto's dress shoes grew fainter, he opened his manipulator and programmed it for the time interval Ianto had given him. After removing his distinctive red jacket, he let the vortex sweep him away. 

* * *

Knowing Torchwood would be shorthanded for an unknown length of time, Colonel Ashline had indefinitely assigned them the four people, some who'd assisted them in the past. Ianto was pleased none of them had batted an eye upon seeing John Hart returned from the dead. With the Torchwood men back in Cardiff and the UNIT corporals, the Hub was staffed with eight people. It was the largest number to date, but a piece of their family was missing.

Even with the UNIT personnel and John Hart, Ianto was sharply reminded of the days following Tosh and Owen's loss as he, Jack, and Gwen went about their work. The empty space of his friends was something Ianto's heart kept poking at, like the tongue drawn to a missing tooth.

None of them thought Miranda would be gone this long. It had been a month and everyone was worried. For Ianto, Miranda's immortality made it worse, not better. There were far worse things in life than death and Ianto had been imagining every single one of them. He couldn't imagine what was going through Hart's mind. Truthfully, Ianto was surprised Hart was holding up so well, but he'd always been good at putting up a front. Hart had been broody, but Ianto had thought it was nothing more than sexual frustration. The pain in the other man's eyes had said otherwise. 

Ianto stopped at his workstation and brought up the rift monitor. Hart's wrist strap wouldn't trigger a general alarm, but it was noted in the system. The corner of his mouth tugged upwards as he noted the small spike from a few moments ago. 

He closed the program and continued walking towards Jacks office. Without knocking, he opened the door and sat down on the sofa, stretching out his legs. Jack looked up from his work and gave his husband a warm smile. "Hey, Yan. Did you find Six?" 

He nodded and said, "I did and I have a juicy bit for you." 

"Oh?" Jack replied with a waggle of his eyebrows. "Did you lock the door?" 

Normally, Ianto would've quipped at him, instead he ignored the statement and said, "John said that Six is something called a Silvestri."

Jack sat up straighter. One of his eyebrows went up, concerned. "Please tell me you're kidding."

"Nope. It was quite the show, it was, John carrying on a conversation with her." 

Jack's face twisted into a grimace. "I don't like Silvestri."

"What why? She's just a cat. Well sort of."

"Don't let her fool you, Ianto. Silvestri aren't cats. They're dangerous pests," Jack insisted. 

"John said-"

"Maybe on John's cushy core planet they're pets, but on my world they're menaces and they're downright dangerous. Groups of them will even attack and drag off small children."

Torchwood's policy for dangerous animals was euthanasia. "She's not done anything aggressive in all the time she's been here, Jack. Cameron would've wanted her looked after. I won't do it." 

"Don't make the mistake of thinking she's a pet, all right? She can stay for now, out of respect to Cameron, and if it comes to it, I'll do it." Jack signed the report in front of him with a flourish and picked up the next one. "Even if she's not aggressive, Silvestri can be very destructive, so keep an eye on her all right?"

Deciding to not tell Jack about the destroyed mattress, he swiftly changed the subject and said, "By the way, John will be joining us tonight." 

"I told you he'd say yes," Jack said. 

"He was hesitant, but, yes, you were right, he said yes. I was surprised he was being so considerate actually," Ianto said. 

"John's a lot of hot air and talk. Believe it or not, his planet's got a lot of taboos about stepping between committed partner," Jack said, shrugging. He added, "He's going to want to be in the middle. He's a real octopus in bed."

Ianto nodded. "So I've already learned." He leaned back, cleared his throat and asked, "Do you have some time to talk now?"

Jack set his paperwork down and nodded. "I can always make time for you, Yan." 

"I'd like to refresh our conversation about thirds," he said. 

After leaning back, Jack said, with interest, "Oh?" 

Ianto nodded, slowly. "The last time we talked about it was before we were married."

"Okay..." With a slow nod, Jack asked, "Is this because of John? Because, I'll be honest here, he's the last person I thought would open up this topic."  

Ianto shook his head, "No, it's not about John."

"Someone else then?" Jack asked. 

With a slight nod, Ianto repeated, "Someone else." He cleared his throat and continued, "Something happened in America, just before Mandy and I left." 

"Oh?" Jack asked, tilting his head. "With who?"

"Alicia Richards."  

Jack let out a snicker. "Is that why she wouldn't look me in the eye the rest of the time we were there?" He shrugged. "You know I'd prefer we talked about stepping outside our relationship, Ianto, but these spur of the moment things are fine with me as long as I get the juicy details after. Tell me later when we can both get comfortable." 

"It wasn't anything that salacious," Ianto said, rolling his eyes. "She was upset and vulnerable. I was trying to be comforting and she tried to kiss me."

Jack frowned, disappointed. "Oh. Is that all?" 

"Time check, Jack. She's a twenty-first century woman who thought she'd made a move on a married man. The poor thing was mortified."

Jack leaned back in his chair. "I don't get it, Ianto. If nothing happened, then why are you..." He trailed off and then added, "Oh now I get it. You're bringing this up because it's something you would like to happen." 

Ianto shifted uncomfortably. "I'm considering it." 

"Just you and her? Or the three of us? I wouldn't mind if you two had some alone time." 

"I know you're fine with something like that, but I'm not comfortable with the idea of having an affair," Ianto answered. 

"It's not an affair, Ianto. You're not sneaking around or hiding something from me."

"It feels like an affair to me, Jack. I know we didn't have the part about forsaking all others in our vows, but it's how I view marriage. Sure, I'm open minded enough to realise it's okay for me to be attracted to someone else, but my twentieth century brain says it's wrong to act on it." He crossed his legs and sighed. "I don't think I'd be comfortable without you there."

Jack considered this for a moment then asked, "Do you want just sex or something more?"

Ianto paused, not sure if he should voice what was in his mind and heart. Jack slid closer and said, "Hey, no judgment here, Yan. I'm not going to think there's something wrong with us because you're interested in someone else. She's a beautiful woman."

Closing his eyes, Ianto nodded and said, hesitant and fearful, "I don't know."

"Do you fancy her?" Jack asled. 

"I'm not sure. There's something about her. A sparkle," Ianto said. He fiddled with a stray string popping out of the sofa cushion. "It's been a long time since I've considered something like this."

"I don't want to disappoint you, Ianto, but if you want it to be more than just sex between the three of us, it might not work out from the get go. I haven't spent a lot of time with her. I might not feel the same way you do. I only know her professionally," Jack said.

"I won't be disappointed. I'm just testing the waters. I'm not even sure how I feel really," Ianto insisted. He shrugged and added, "This whole conversation could be moot. I may be reading into it too much. She might not be interested."

"We could talk to her together," Jack offered. 

"That might be overwhelming for her," Ianto said, shrugging. "I don't want to take advantage of how vulnerable she is right now." 

"When you feel the time is right, then," Jack said. He slid his hand into Ianto's. "How are you doing, Yan? You've been off since we got back." 

Ianto squirmed. He absolutely did not want to talk about it. All he wanted to do was shove it away into the back of his mind and forget it ever existed. Jack must've sensed his reluctance and drew him into his arms. Ianto didn't respond, only let himself relax into Jack's embrace. He'd been raised to respect not only women, but his fellow human beings. At first, he'd been shoving and grabbing at Miranda within their apartment building. Their fights had been fairly loud, but normal. Miranda had pulled him aside and given him a thorough scolding, telling him he needed to up his emotional and physical abusiveness. Their fellow lodgers had needed to think their relationship and Miranda were at a breaking point. 

Ianto had thought domestic abusers to be pieces of shite before, but now his opinion had sunk even lower. He didn't understand how anyone could do such a things to another human being. He'd also been one of those people who didn't understand why people stayed in such situations, but Miranda's behavior had made it abudantly clear. After each beating, each foul, cutting word, she'd practically begged Ianto to forgive her, to tell her how she could make it better. She'd promise to be better, promise to try harder. 

He hadn't understood why Hart and Jack had been so reluctant to take on the assignment, but he did now. He'd thought it would be simple to pretend and act. But the whole thing had made Ianto sick to his stomach, and now that it was over, it was still with him, making him sick. He had nightmares, every night. He had a knot in his stomach every day. Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw Miranda, cowering in terror, as his fists flew at her face, screaming "no" and begging for him to stop. 

What had also upset him was the utter indifference of their neighbors. More than once, there had been witnesses to his mistreatment of Miranda, and not one of them had attempted to stop him or even phone the authorities. The rare occasions the police had been involved, they'd been unable to do anything, not because Ianto was undercover for a clandestine organisation, but because Miranda refused to press charges. Ianto escaped an assaults charge each time and the police had glared at him with utter loathing and frustration. 

Trying to shove the memories aside, he curled into Jack's embrace, breathing deeply of his husband's scent. Jack stroked his hair. "It's okay, Yan." 

Ianto croaked, "I understand now, why you and John didn't want to do it."  

"It's not who you are. It wasn't real," Jack said, softly. 

"It felt real," Ianto said, angering. "You should've heard the things I had to say to her, Jack." 

The horrible memory jabbed at his brain.  _You useless fucking cow! Why can't you get anything right?_ He squeezed his eyes shut so hard they watered. _No! Ianto. I'm sorry! I'm sorry! No! Please! I won't do it again! I promise! Please, stop!_ He managed to resist the urge to clamp his hands over his ears. _You're fucking worthless, do you know that?_

"I'm sorry, Ianto," Jack said, hugging him tightly. "What can I do to help?" 

"You're doing it," Ianto replied. "I think I just need time."

"Maybe you should let Will kick the tar out of you when she gets back," Jack said. 

"If she comes back," Ianto whispered. 

"I know you're in a bad place right now, but it's only been a month. She's on the inside to gather intelligence. That takes time," Jack said. He lowered his voice and said, "You'll see her again. She'll tell you it's okay and you'll be able to say you're sorry." 

Ianto closed his eyes and hoped to God Jack's words didn't end up being empty.

 


	8. Chapter 8

"Thanks Ben," Jack said as he shut the boot. He watched Ben lift the box easily, but still asked, "You need a hand with that?"

"It's not heavy, sir. Err, sorry, Captain Harkness." The UNIT personnel had trouble remembering that particular honorific was reserved for Ianto where Jack was concerned.

Jack winked and said, "Our little secret, Private."

"Thanks, Captain," Ben said, his ears reddening. "The last time I did that in front of your husband, he frowned at me something awful, he did."

"Ah, The Frown," Jack said, smiling. "Been a while since I did something to earn it."

"You probably shouldn't have said that," Ben said, laughing. "Ianto'll be frowning at you by the end of the day now." 

"You're probably right," Jack replied, joining the laughter. 

As they walked towards the main Hub, Jack said, "You've been doing great, Ben."

"Thanks, Captain Harkness," Ben said, brightly. "I like it here, I do. It's got variety and it's certainly never dull."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, because if you ever want a career outside of UNIT, you let me know." 

Ben paused, containment box in hand. His mouth open. "Are you serious?"

"Wouldn't have offered if I weren't serious," Jack said. He stopped and turned. "You've got good instincts and you're getting the hang of thinking outside the planet. Ianto agrees. We'd like to have you on board if you're willing."

The excess of staff had greatly improved everyone's quality of life even with the team down three people and Ianto didn't want that to change when this mess with America was over. So, he'd sat Jack down and had a serious discussion with him. Jack had always kept Three small because he didn't want them turning into One, but Ianto had been persuasive. He wanted Gwen to be able to take care of her mum and have plenty of time for her doctor appointments, and God willing, her future children. He wanted him and Jack, or Fish and Henry to be able to go on holiday without stressing over the rift predictor. He wanted the team to be able to have real lives. After careful consideration of each of the UNIT personnel assigned to help them and speaking with Colonel Ashline, they'd decided to extend offer to Ben Murphy.

When Jack had first gotten a look at Private Ben Murphy, he'd wondered if Colonel Ashline had had a lapse in judgement. The portly young man looked like he'd drop if he went for a hard run, but Ben had proven him wrong. Despite the extra weight, Ben was physically fit and strong. Working with Ben made the Colonel's reasons clearer. Ben had almost no filter on his mouth. It had definitely gotten him in a fair amount of trouble at UNIT, because after half a dozen years, Ben was still a private. The young man didn't have the conformity in him a military career required. What held him back in UNIT would be what helped him excel at Torchwood, and given the pleased look on Ben's face, Jack was hopeful he would accept the offer. 

"Can I think about it?" Ben asked, continuing down the hallway.

"Sure," Jack said with a shrug. "I'd like your decision before you go back to UNIT, if that's all right."

"Of course, Captain," Ben said with a laugh. He heaved the box onto the worktable next to a growing pile. "When do you reckon Captain Hart will be back?"

"Right when he's supposed to be," Jack answered. He was pleased with Ben's acceptance of the non-answer. Though Jack and Ianto both disliked the way Hart ping-ponged all over Miranda's timeline, he'd been miserable and unbearable. So, Jack finally insisted he take Ianto's advice and travel forward to stay with Miranda whilst they waited for her to return. With Fish still on extended leave and Hart gone, the team had no technician and the backlog was piling up. Sometimes, when they had a free moment, Ianto or Jack would take a look at something, but most of the time it sat waiting.

Jack hated to admit he was beginning to despair. It was easy to assume if Hart was visiting her in the future, that Miranda would return, but that wasn't necessarily true. For all he knew, Hart could be anywhere or anywhen, giving the appearance he was with Miranda as to not give the team any indirect foreknowledge of the current situation. Even if Jack made assumptions about Miranda's return given Hart's visit, he couldn't make assumptions about the manner of it. She could end up returning in a hundred years. It was Ben's voice that brought Jack out of his reflections. 

"What is it, do you reckon?" Ben asked. 

Jack opened the box and took out the artefact, smirking. "What do you think it is?"

With a chuckle, Ben said, "Well definitely not something dangerous if you're handling it like that." When Ben held out his hand, Jack handed him the item and Ben added, "One hundred percent not dangerous if you're handing it to me."

With a smirk on his face, Jack watched as Ben examined the item, turning it in his hands and feeling its soft, smooth texture. "Reminds me of this yoga prop my ex-girlfriend used. She had bad wrists. Had these gel discs for her hands and knees, but this is bigger, with texture on the top."

To Jack's amusement, Ben dropped it onto the floor and put his hand down on it. "It's firm in the middle, like this squishy coating is just on the outside. I think there's some sort of cling film all over it."

Barely containing his laughter, Jack said, "I love how you're just diving in there, Ben."

At that, the young man looked up. After examining Jack's face for a few seconds, he stood up and tossed the artifact up onto the table. "It's a bloody alien sex toy." 

Unable to contain his laughter anymore, Jack howled and barely managed to ask, "What makes you say that?" 

Ben rolled his eyes, looking down at his hands with disgust. "You're the biggest clue, you are. Can't keep a straight face, can you?"

Jack clapped his hands together and laughed, doubled over. 

"I hope that thing was clean," Ben said, walked towards the washroom. 

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Jack pinched the side, pulling on the protective coating. He said, "It's new." 

Ben paused and asked, "I won't take your word for it. What species is it for anyway?" 

Jack said, "Ravenali. They're a bird-like species." 

"Is that for the men or the women?" Ben asked. 

"Ravenali male and female genitalia is pretty much the same, so both," Jack said. 

Ben made a disgusted noise and continued towards the washroom. "Not nice to haze the new guy with alien sex toys, Captain. That's harassment."

Jack perked up. "Hey, was that a yes?"

As the washroom door shut, Ben shouted back, "Yes, yes!"

Grinning like a fool, Jack turned towards his office to find Ianto, but the Welshman was already walking in his direction. "Ben said yes!"

Ianto grinned and said, "That's fantastic." He craned his neck and asked, "Where is he?"

"Bathroom, washing his hands," Jack said, nodding towards the table. 

"Ah, another Ravenali masturbatory pad." He tilted his head at the washroom door and then the pad. "That's not nice, Jack." 

"This one's new," Jack replied. 

"Henry didn't think it was funny either," Ianto pointed out. 

"That's because it isn't," Ben said, rolling his eyes. He teased, "It's harassment."

Ianto grinned and handed over a mug of coffee. "Welcome to Torchwood. That is if you want to start straight away."

"I do..." Ben's face fell. "I still have three years of service at UNIT." 

Ianto shook his head. "Don't worry about that, Ben. Colonel Ashline knows. You'll finish out your five years here, and if you're still alive, you'll stay on with us." 

Ben accepted the mug and saluted Ianto with it. "Well, here's to still being alive in five years!" 

"Oi, that's the wrong tag, Jack!" Ianto yanked open the drawer and shoved the correct tag at his husband. "Identified, harmless, recreational." 

"Sorry," Jack said, replacing the tag. 

"Umm, Captain Harkness?"

Jack turned. "Hmm?"

"Am I still UNIT? Or am I still 'UNIT'?" Ben asked, making quotes in the air with his fingers. 

Ianto grinned and said, "That second one." 

Pinching his uniform top between his fingers, he asked, "So does that mean I can ditch this uniform?" 

Jack nodded. "We don't stand on ceremony here, Ben. Wear whatever you're comfortable in." 

Relief washed over Ben and he said, "Thank you. Do you mind if I go change now?" 

Jack laughed. "How about you keep up appearances until the others are gone?" 

Ben nodded. "Sure, Captain." 

As Ben sat down at his workstation. Jack turned to Ianto and dropped his voice. "Any news from Ethan?"

Ianto's response was the same. "Nothing yet."

Jack slumped as he leaned forward. He muttered under his breath, "I never should've let her do this."

"It's not your fault, Jack," Ianto said, softly. He sighed and said, "It's mine. I'm the one who convinced her of it. I shouldn't have done."

"No, Ianto, the final decision was mine," Jack insisted. He hung his head and sighed. "I should've put a stop to it. It was too risky." 

From his workstation Ben let out a slow whistle. He asked, "Wow. You two want a paddling pool to wallow in for that pity party you're throwing over there?"

The two immortals slowly swiveled their heads towards him. By now, they were used to Ben's coarseness, but this was a new level.

Ben stood up and said, "You both heard me. Look, I get this could make you take back that job offer, but I won't listen to the two of you trying to figure out which of you is more to blame. Doctor Ryan's capable of taking care of herself. I doubt anyone could convince her of anything or make her do anything she didn't want to."

Jack opened his mouth to speak, Ben cut him off. "I get that guilt isn't a rational thing, but no matter how thick you lay it on, it's not going to change a thing."

After a few seconds of silence, Ben shrugged and said, "You're both good leaders-good blokes-and it's not right for you to go blaming yourself for shite that you can do bugger all about. Guilt is to the soul what pain is to the body." He cleared his throat. "And if I've got things right, that's not the sort of habit you don't want long term, if you catch what I'm saying." 

Jack blinked. The immortals had all agreed not to inform any of the UNIT personnel about their unique nature despite what Colonel Ashline knew. The Colonel knew about Jack and Miranda because of random circumstance and both of them trusted him to keep that information in the strictest confidence. There was no such trust between them and the temporary personnel. Jack began to scramble, wondering how Ben had managed to put it together, and whether or not to confirm or deny his suspicions. He also wondered what the other UNIT personnel had begun to suspect.

Reading Jack's mind, Ben said, "Not that I know anything about anything I shouldn't."

Jack gave him a terse nod and felt Ianto's hand on his shoulder. 

"He's right," Ianto said, quietly. "In the end, it was Mandy's decision. Could we have really have forced her into anything?" 

Jack wanted to protest and reaffirm that all blame was his, but the memory of his ex-wife, standing firm and stubborn during every single one of their arguments was enough to let it die in his throat. He turned to Ben and said, "No, I suppose not."

Smirking, Ianto asked, "Anything else you care to add, Private?" 

Ben shrugged. "I've been holding back, I have, but seeing as you asked me to work here, I figured I should stop. Exhausting, it is." 

"You've got a mouth on you, no mistake," Ianto said, "but it won't get you into trouble here. Unless you say the wrong thing to the women." 

Ben threw his head back and laughed. "I'm not bloody stupid. I like my bollocks where they are, I do." He shrugged. "It feels fake when I put on this... I don't know... sweet fat guy personality, like I'm trying to make up for the fact that I don't got a six-pack." He patted his belly. "Umm, this won't be a problem will it?" 

Jack furrowed his brow and asked, "What won't be a problem?" 

Ben poked at one of his love handles. "This."

"Why would it?" Ianto asked. 

"I'm over the maximum weight for my height. Medical's been on me about it for years," Ben said, his ears pinking. 

"Do you pass your fitness requirements?" Jack asked. 

Ben nodded. "Flying colors." 

"As long as you can pass the fitness requirements, and our field certification, then there's no problem," Ianto said. 

Grinning, Ben went back to his work. Jack's phone let out a loud ding and he looked at the screen. It was a text from Gwen... a picture of a positive pregnancy test. Jack showed the phone to Ianto. Instead of smiling, Ianto said, "I wish I could be happy for them, but it's like there's this cloud-this dark thing looming over what should be something so happy. I can't imagine how it feels for them." 

"I know," Jack said, sighing. "Third time's a charm."

"We can only hope," Ianto replied. "I don't like feeling helpless like this. All this waiting."

"None of us do. We have to keep hoping and crack on," Ianto replied. He straightened his suit jacket and said, "Who's for Chinese?" 

Ben raised his hand. "Something with noodles, please." 

As Ianto reached up for his comm unit to ask the other UNIT personnel out on a rift alert what they would like, a loud snap and bright flash of light enveloped the Hub. Ben leapt to his feet, reaching for his sidearm. When Ianto and Jack turned, they saw John Hart standing in the middle of the room looking around.

"John? You're back?" Ianto asked, surprised.

"Let's get a move on, Eye Candy!" Hart said, turning towards the north stairs.

"Woah, woah! John! Wait!" Jack shouted. "Get a move on where?"

"America. I'd like to collect my wife," Hart said.

Jack and Ianto looked at each other. Ianto said, patiently, "John, I got off the phone with Ethan not half an hour ago. He's said there hasn't..."

Ianto trailed off as his mobile began to ring.

"That's your cue, Eye Candy! I'm going to grab my stuff," Hart shouted from the north sub-basement.

Ianto connected the call. "Ethan?... Yes... We'll be there as soon as we can... Thanks... No, not a problem..." He rang off and turned to Jack.

"Let me guess, he's got Will's signal," Jack said.

Ianto nodded. "I'll get our go-bags."

Jack turned to their newest member and said, "Ben? Hold down the fort." 

"Yes, Captain," he said, raising his hand in acknowledgement. 

"And Ben?" 

"Hmmm?" Ben asked, looking over his shoulder. 

"It's Jack." 

With a grin, Ben turned back to his workstation. "Yes, Jack." 

* * *

His stomach twisting, Ianto barely managed to grab Donovan's bin in time. Donovan, who'd been sitting at his desk at the time, shoved his chair backwards and rolled away. With a disgusted look on his face, he said, "Remind me never to go anywhere with that thing." 

Hart didn't waste any time and demanded, "Where is she?"

Jack said, "It's rougher when it's at maximum capacity." He cracked his neck loudly. "I've had worse nights."

Loudly, Hart repeated, "Where is she?" 

Donovan raised his hand and said, "Take it down a notch." He stood up and gestured for them to follow him into the adjoining conference room.

Seeing Ianto was still wobbly and in danger of losing more stomach contents, he added, "Take all the time you need Ianto." 

The Welshman gave a weak nod as sat down heavily in Donovan's chair. On jelly legs, he stood up and walked towards Donovan's private washroom. He rinsed his mouth and stole a swig off Donovan's mouthwash bottle. After splashing some water on his face, he turned and nearly ran straight into Alicia. 

"Oh, Alicia, I'm sorry," he said. 

"Are you all right? You look like eighteen shades of green right now." Even though she was significantly smaller and shorter than Ianto, she put both her hands on his arms to steady him. 

"Bloody wrist strap," he muttered. The pressure between his temples from Chris Purser in the next room wasn't helping either. 

Alicia led him to Donovan's chair and set him down, and crouched down in front of him. After taking his hand, she asked, "May I?" 

"Umm, sure," he said, not sure what she was asking. 

Alicia butted her first three fingers against his wrists, almost like she was measuring something. Then, she slid her thumbs into his shirt cuffs, feeling. Her thumb then pressed into his forearm, hard. After a few short seconds, his stomach stopped rolling. 

"Better?" she asked. 

"Much, thanks," he replied, surprised. 

She gave him a sweet smile and said, "No problem." 

Ianto's stomach gave a little flip as he looked into the clear blue of her eyes. 

A loud throat clear caused Alicia to jump to her feet. 

"There you are Alicia. Could you get on the horn to someone and see where the satellites are?" Purser said. "Quinn's sending you the coordinates now for where we need imaging." 

Embarrassed, Alicia shuffled from the room, leaving the two immortals alone. Purser smirked at him.

"You have something to say, Mr. Purser?" he asked. 

With a shrug, Purser said, "Hey whatever does it for you, man." Then smirked and said, "She's got nice tits. I'd hit that." 

Ianto narrowed his eyes and said, "Was that your attempt at male bonding? Disrespecting and objectifying a colleague?"

Purser rolled his eyes and stepped back into the conference room. Ianto thought Purser was a fool and was now adding tosser to his list of adjectives. With his suit jacked buttoned, he stepped in behind his husband, looking at the large screen. A pin was dropped on a Google maps image. 

"Is this where Mandy is?" he asked. 

"Yeah," Donovan said, turning. "I hope there's a satellite close by, or this could take hours." 

Alicia came bounding into the room. "We're in luck. A satellite just passed the area, but was still close enough for some good images. Quinn, they should be in your inbox now." 

Colasanto turned to his laptop and tapped a few times. The images appeared up on the screen.  

"Arse end of no where isn't it?" Hart said. "Perfect place to keep people." 

Alicia shook her head. "There's nothing. No buildings. No evidence of anything. You'd think they'd at least have a road. I mean, they need food, right? Water? Other... I don't know... stuff..." She raised her hand and gestured with her finger at the image. "Looks like a rectangular depression. Could be a building..." 

"Could be cloaked or hidden in a dozen different ways," Jack said. He walked over to the screen, also pointing as he spoke. "They may have just expanded the facility. This foliage down here looks newer than all this dried up stuff up here." 

"Could be underground," Colasanto added. "They could control the light, every condition. With the kind of technology they have, they could make these people think they were anywhere." 

"Yeah that's possible too," Hart replied. 

As the speculation on the type of facility continued, Ianto squinted at the screen. The image reminded him of something he'd seen on Facebook a few years ago. It had fascinated him so much, he'd found the scholarly article associated with the news story. He swallowed hard and said, “I don't think there's anyone there."

"What? Why not, Yan?" Jack asked.

"Location, location, location," Donovan said.

"I've seen images like this before,” Ianto said, still staring at the screen. 

“When?” he asked, curious. 

As he turned back to the rest of them, he said, “A few years ago, a British archaeologist's research made the mainstream news. She was investigating Treblinka.”

“The Nazi concentration camp?” Donovan asked, confused. 

Ianto corrected, “It was an extermination camp. The Nazis destroyed it and Holocaust deniers had claimed there was no proof of genocide there." He pointed at a square section of on the image. "Since Jewish law forbids exhumation, they couldn't disturb the area." 

"Okay..." Alicia muttered.

Ianto continued, "The archaeologists were looking for the mass graves through distinctive depressions in the ground.” 

Silence fell in the room as they all stared at the football pitch sized area of dirt in the middle of desert plant life.

"Oh my God," Alicia gasped. 

Colasanto said, with little confidence, "That depression could be anything..." 

But the protest fell flat. 

Hart muttered, “We have to get her out of there, Jack.” 

Jack swallowed hard and said, “Yeah, we do.” He turned to Donovan. “We need to get out there. Now.”  

“Jack...” Donovan said. "I want her out of there as much as you do, but that place is in the middle of nowhere. We need heavy equipment, manpower... Do you know how many people I'm going to have to involve in this? They're in another country! I'll have to deal with the Mexican goverment! There isn't enough retcon in the world for this!"

"No, you don't," Colasanto said, standing. He pulled back his sleeve, baring the tattoo on his wrist. "Director Donovan, as you know, Deputy Director Purser is an immortal of the Game. I'm a member of a secret society called The Watchers. We observe and record the Game and the immortals that move within it. Part of our mandate is the Game's secrecy and the secrecy of its players. Under normal circumstances, digging up an immortal after an accidental burial is interference, but since MiB's going to have to dig her up either way, I think I can convince my superiors that it's vital to the Game's secrecy that we involve ourselves in her retrieval." 

Donovan's took in this new information for a moment then his eyes narrowed. "You didn't transfer here from the midwestern field office with Chris. You've been in Washington since you joined MiB." 

Colasanto nodded. He waved in Ianto's direction. "The Watchers have existed as long as they have, Director. There is very little going on on this planet that we don't know about."

Donovan asked, "The Watchers have the resources to help us dig her up?" 

"We're a global organisation, Director. We can't excavate the rest of the grave, but just retrieving her won't take much convincing. Permission to send this picture on to the appropriate people in my organisation?" Colasanto asked. 

Donovan nodded. "Do it. Please extend the Watchers my thanks and tell them that MiB will owe them a favor." 

Colasanto nodded and left the room. Donovan stepped up to the screen and swallowed hard.

Jack put his hand on his shoulder and said, "She's dead. She doesn't know she's buried." 

"Well thank fuck for that," Donovan muttered. 

Colasanto returned much faster than Ianto had expected. "Director Donovan, you said that MiB would owe the Watchers a favour?"

Donovan nodded. 

"The Watchers would like to call in that favor now. I need to remain at my posting here as Deputy Director Purser's PA," Colasanto insisted.

There was a microscopic tensing to Donovan's jaw. "We can discuss that later."

"I'm afraid my superiors are awaiting your answer before giving theirs," Colasanto said. He held up his phone.

Clearly, Donovan had wanted to do some negotiating, but Colasanto wasn't giving him that option. He said, sternly, "If I even suspect you of using your position to feed the Watchers classified information, orange will be the new black."

Colasanto nodded and tapped out a text. After reading the screen, he said, "A small clean-up crew and support resources have mobilized to the area. We can have her back here tomorrow." 

"Oh sod that," Hart said. He began tapping at his wrist strap. "That's my wife. I'm not letting her wake up from that alone."

Colasanto grabbed his hand. "The clean-up crew will take care of her."

Hart shook off Colasanto's hand. "Don't you fucking touch me."

"Captain Hart, I understand your distress, but we have to wait," Donovan said.

"He's right, John," Jack added. "Stand down. We wait."


	9. Chapter 9

 

Instead of waiting for Miranda back in Washington, Hart suggested they fly out to California to meet her there. Everyone agreed that it would make the whole process faster, but when they arrived at the Western Field Office in San Francisco, there was no Miranda waiting for them. To their dismay, she was in an interrogation room, and the Agent-in-Charge, a brick of a woman named Jasmine Ortiz, wouldn't allow them anywhere near her.

Hart wanted to yank out someone's kidneys. More than once Ianto had to seize his shoulders to keep him from throttling Ortiz.

"I have my orders, Captain Hart. So you can huff, and puff all you want. It isn't going to change things." She snapped her gaze to Ianto's direction. "And you can stop dialing the Director right now, Mr. Jones, because that's exactly where my orders came from."

While Ortiz was distracted, Hart tried to walk past her to the interrogation room. Ortiz was small in stature, but built like a truck. She blocked Hart's path and said, "If you think I won't have my agents sedate and restrain your scrawny ass, you got another thing coming. Back up. Now. Before I lay you out and you're making a big mistake if you don't think I can." 

"C'mon, mate, nothing we can do," Ianto said, taking him by the arm. 

Hart shook him off and muttered an insult from his homeworld in Ortiz's direction. Ianto dragged him out of the squad room and into the hallway.

In a harsh whisper, he said to Ianto, "They're treating her like a bloody criminal. What do they have to gain from keeping her from us?"

"I don't know, John, but something is wrong here." Despite what Ortiz had said, Ianto finished dialing Donovan's office. With his phone to his ear, he wandered off down the hallway.

Jack stepped towards him. "You all right?"

He started shifting around, taking a step left, then right, then back, then left again, trying to dispel the angry energy. "I'm going to rip her eyes out with my fucking thumbs, Jack."

"Look, I get it. I don't know why they're keeping her from us, but we have to wait," he insisted.

"Why? Your fucking twenty-first century politics?" Hart snapped. 

"Hey, easy. I get it, but what you need to get is that we're not visitors here anymore. This is our time now. So cool it."  

"I thought you had some sort of relationship with these people," Hart said, gesturing at the squad room.

"We do. Or we did," Jack replied with disappointment.

"How long do you think they'll keep her in there?" Hart asked.

"I don't know. I want to see what Ianto says when he's done talking to Ethan," Jack said. "There he is now. What'd Ethan say, Yan?"

"He's having his agents debrief Mandy, alone-in other words without us-so that we won't have a chance to censor what she tells them."

"He thinks we'd do that?" Jack asked, incredulously.

"He claims it's a political stunt to show his superiors that he's not Jack Harkness's man," Ianto replied.

Hart may not be Ianto's best mate, but he'd known the Welshman long enough now to hear the skepticism. "But you don't believe that." 

Ianto hesitated and Jack said, "Ianto?"

"I think Ethan's realised we're not telling him the whole truth about what we suspect is going on." He waved between Hart and his husband. "The three of us have been having more than a few side conversations. You two in a whole other language. We trained him well, Jack. He's suspicious and I don't blame him." 

Jack held his hands up and said, "We're not somewhere we can discuss this." 

Hart pointed upwards at the surveillance camera. "And I'm sure that will assuage his suspicions." 

Ianto and Jack both rolled their eyes simultaneously. Before either man could answer, the door to the squad room opened and Ortiz stepped out into the hallway. 

"Thank fuck, are you done now?" Hart demanded. 

Ortiz held up her hand. "You should go back to your hotel. This is going to take a while." 

"Define 'a while'?" Jack snapped, his eyes narrowing. 

"I can't be more specific," Ortiz said, flatly. 

"I want to talk to my operative," Jack insisted. 

"Captain Harkness, as Director Donovan has told you, this is MiB's jurisdiction. You're here in an advisory capacity only-"

"You wouldn't have anything but a plate of jack with a nice steaming side of shit if it weren't for her!" Hart shouted. "She risked her life going in there!" 

"And for that, as I've already said, Captain Hart, we are grateful, but she needs to be properly debriefed," Ortiz insisted. "Go back to your hotel. We'll call you when we're done with her." 

Hart leaned and Ianto grabbed his arm. "I'm not going anywhere." 

"Suit yourself," Ortiz said with a shrug. 

Ianto sighed and took out his mobile. "I'll see what I can do." 

Hart snapped, "Yeah, you do that, Eye Candy." 

* * *

As Hart walked into the hotel room, he flung the key card onto the bed. Miranda shut the door behind him, letting out a weary sigh.  

 

"The Twins, could they have grilled you for longer? Four fucking hours!" Hart cried.

She turned to her husband and snapped, "I doubt the questioning would've been as intense had I told them the truth." 

"You couldn't," Hart insisted.

"I know. I deduced that much myself which is why I lied," she snapped.

She walked across the room to stare out of the window. Hart put his hands on her shoulders, gently kneading them with his thumbs. Softly, he said, "Tell me."

 

She shuddered. "There's nothing to talk about. I don't remember. I was dead before they buried me." 

"But there's something else. I can tell." He slid his arms around her neck from behind and rested his mouth on her shoulder. There was a tremble to her muscles and her voice. "Once."

"How long?"

"Five years." She spoke in a rushed whisper, like speaking of it aloud would yank her back into the ground. "There was just enough oxygen in the coffin for me to revive, but too much carbon dioxide for me to live. Then the dehydration and starvation began. I lost awareness of time as I succumbed to delirium."

He tightened his grip on her. "I'm sorry this is reminding you of all that."

"I can hear them. The same as I did then," she whispered.

"Who?"

She gripped his arms with icy hands. "Those turned to dust clamoring for vengeance."

He didn't belittle her fear or scold her for the superstitious nonsense. As much as he wanted to stomp his feet and spout nihilism, the ancient concepts of gods and the afterlife spoke to some visceral part of the human spirit. If there was a Heaven above or a Hell below, Hart knew precisely which direction he'd be traveling. He didn't off her words, only clung to her tightly,  letting the strength of his arms speak for themselves.

The sound of someone fiddling with their door's lock brought them up. In a few seconds, it flew open, revealing Jack. He stomped into the room, the door automatically swinging shut behind him. 

"Hello, Jack, c'mon in. No, of course, you're not interrupting on a bloody thing," Hart snapped. He stepped between his former partner and his wife, pushing her behind him protectively. This wasn't the first time he'd seen this look on Jack's face. He smelled blood in the water.

Jack craned his neck at Miranda's eyes peering over Hart's shoulder. He pointed right at her and demanded, "All right, Will, why are you lying?"

 

"Jack..."

"Oh no you don't! I've known you a hundred years. I know when you're lying. They may not have let us watch the entire debrief, but we saw that last run through of your story. I get that you have to leave out the whole dying part, but you were holding back way more than that. I thought Ethan was being a jerk, but what made them suspicious was you." 

Miranda raised an eyebrow at her husband. "You didn't tell him?"

With a sigh, Hart asked, "Where's Eye Candy?"

"He's in our room. Why?" Jack asked. 

After propping the door open, Hart strode across the hallway and rapped his knuckles on the opposite door. "Eye Candy?" 

 

The door swung open. Ianto was nearly out of his suit. His shirt was unbuttoned and untucked from his trousers, and his feet were bare. Under normal circumstances, Hart would've taken a few moment to appreciate how edible Ianto looked, but not this time. 

"What's wrong, John?" Ianto asked. 

"We need to have a circle of trust meeting," Hart said, turning away. He opened his wrist strap and turned on the noise killing feature. Ianto didn't bother buttoning his shirt or correcting his appearance in any way. He even walked across the hall carpet barefoot.

 

After shutting the door behind him, he asked, "John, what's going on?" 

Hart half sat on the small table, and without preamble blurted, "The Zabaydians are behind the abductions." 

Momentarily rendered speechless, Jack stood there with his jaw slack. After reclaiming his wits, he exclaimed, "You told her? What did I say?" 

 

"Jack, it was time. She needed to know," Hart said, simply. 

The Torchwood captain shouted, "There are too many people who know as it is!"

"He's right, Jack," Miranda said. She sat down on the bed and leaned against the headboard. "John confided his suspicions to me, but gave me no details. I only knew that this was possibly the first wave of an important alien invasion. If John hadn't told me what to look for, I wouldn't have bothered. I would've focused on the abductees, not the abductors. Instead, the minute I got there, I knew it was these Zabaydians and that I'd never be able to figure out where they were holding their prisoners." 

 

"So it was like you said in debriefing," Ianto said, sitting down at the small table. 

Miranda shook her head. "To conceal what I know, I had to lie a great deal." 

With a roll of his eyes, Jack sneered, "MiB didn't swallow it." 

"You know this level of deception requires rehearsal," Miranda spat back. "I didn't exactly have a lot of time."

Jack crossed his arms over his chest and jutted out his chin. "You could be wrong." 

"She's not wrong," Hart said.

Jack pointed at Miranda and said, "She's never seen a Zabaydian."

"I have now," Miranda said. She crossed her legs at the ankles and slid her hands in between her thighs. "I checked into the hotel and went to bed. When I woke up, I was in a nondescript round room, alone."

"That was part of your debriefing," Ianto said, nodding with interest.

"Yes it was. As I told MiB, after a few minutes, a human man entered the room. He was dressed in a pair of white slacks and a white tunic. He looked remarkably professional and spoke in perfect English. He told me they were conducting a study on human behaviour and asked if I would participate," she said. 

"That's it?" Jack said. 

"In exchange for my cooperation, they would cure me of any illness," she said, shrugging. "The entire conversation was meant to illicit cooperation and be as non-threatening as possible. He wanted me to trust him and believe his intentions benign, even benevolent."

"This doesn't make sense. The Zabaydians didn't abduct people first. You said he looked human," Jack said, waving his arm out to the side.

"What wasn't part of my debrief, was that he looked human because there was a holographic projection making him look that way. I convinced him to dispense with the trickery. Without the illusion, he was a humanoid alien of moderate stature. Slim, but wide shoulders. Light grey skin. The eyes were widely set and the ears were so low they were practically on his neck. There was no hair on his head, just a ring of fuzzy down-like feathers," Miranda said. When Jack's eyes widened she continued, slightly smug, "John projected an image of a Zabaydian with his vortex manipulator. And there it was, right in front of me."

"Did you see anyone else? Any of the other abductees?" Ianto asked. 

She shook her head. "I saw no one except for this one alien."

 "There was no way for you to see where you were being held?" Jack asked. 

Miranda shook her head. "There were no doorways, no windows. There were no workstations or screens or terminals of any sort. I saw nothing but the two rooms and the hallway between them."

"Did you feel any fluctuations in the gravity? Did it feel artificial?" Jack demanded. 

Hart rolled his eyes. "Jack, she doesn't have any idea what artificial gravity would feel like."

Ianto frowned. "You were gone a long time. What kind of behavioral study was it?" 

"It could've been a behavioural study done at any university anywhere on the planet. They handed me a questionnaire to answer everyday that was hundreds of pages long. They conducted the occasional interview, had me solve some shape and logic puzzles. There were some cognitive tests. There was nothing out of the ordinary or malicious about any of it."

"Nothing medical?" Ianto asked.

She shook her head and shrugged. "Nothing invasive or blatant. Though they could have scanned me somehow without my knowledge. After a few weeks, they thanked me for participating and told me the medical procedures to cure my heart condition would start. That's when I self-terminated."

 

"A few weeks?" Jack said, eyebrows shooting up.

The men looked at each other. With wide eyes, Ianto said, "Mandy, you've been gone nearly three months."

Warily, Miranda said, "I only experienced about three weeks. It's impossible to tell if it's correct. I was completely indoors. They cycled the night and day with artificial light. It's possible it was longer, but not three times that."

Hart could hear the near panic in his wife's voice. Anything could've happened to her in that missing time. Unbelievably, Hart found himself hoping she'd been buried and not the subject of some experiment. He crossed over to her and slid onto the bed, maneovering her into his lap.

"Mandy, did you mention only being held a month to MiB at any point during the interview? I know you didn't during your last statement. You mentioned no timeline at all."

Miranda frowned. "I honestly don't remember, Ifan. You know what interrogation is like. They loop you around, asking you to repeat random sections of the story, looking for inconsistencies. In all likelihood, I mentioned it as I had no idea there was an inconsistency between how long I was gone and how long I experienced."

"That may be why MiB questioned her for so long," Ianto said. "Ethan may not have any suspicions regarding the invasion." 

Miranda said, "Regardless of whether or not Ethan suspects anything, this is clearly the first wave of this invasion of the future. No matter how benign my captivity, they fit the description of these Zabaydians."

"What do we do, Jack?" Ianto asked. 

"I need to think," he said. He shook his head. 

With his arms still around Miranda, Hart looked up and said, "What the fuck is there to think about, Jack? This is part of the invasion. We can do fuck all about it."

 

Miranda frowned and said, "I don't know how we'll get the Americans to back off. They see this as an attack on their sovereignty."

"That's because it is an attack on their sovereignty," Hart said. "It's an attack on humanity. These people came here to exterminate us."

Ianto turned to Jack. "What do we do?"

With a slight shake of his head, Jack, looking at a spot on the floor said, "Hundreds of millions of people die. We have a chance to stop it now." He looked up with determination. "We put a stop to this now."

Hart released his wife and stood, shouting, "You can't, Jack!"

"We can save people!" Jack shouted back. 

"You mean we can save him."

"It's not-"

Hart shoved him backwards. "You're full of shit, Jack. This is about him and you know it! You give me shit for what I'm doing, but you're the one trying to fuck with a fixed point in time!"

Miranda stood and Ianto moved between their spouses. Ianto ordered, "Oi! Take it down a little!"

"What are you two talking about?" Miranda asked. "Whom exactly are you trying to save, Jack?"

Jack started, "You don't need to know-"

But Hart interrupted, "Fish saves us from the invading Zabaydians."

"And he dies," Miranda finished.

Jack turned to Hart and spat, "And then they retaliate, by turning Earth's major cities into cinders!" He turned to Ianto and Miranda. "Hundreds of millions of people are killed and the social and political upheaval that follows claims millions more!"

Hart waved his arms. "It's that very struggle that propels humanity into the stars!" He made an exasperated noise. "Why the fuck am I explaining shit to you every child in the Empire knows by the time they're ten?

Miranda said, cautiously, "Jack, you, of all people, should understand the importance of time. Perhaps you never learned about these abductions... because no one ever finds out about them."

 

Jack gaped at her. "You didn't want Fish to give his life for Torchwood!"

"For all of humanity is a different matter, Jack!" she countered.

Then, in a whisper so soft they almost didn't hear him, Jack said, "Just this once, everybody lives..."

"A fool's errand," Hart said, sadly.

Jack cried, "We can save them!"

Hart begged, "Are you listening? You've seen it! You've seen humanity become vast and magnificent and endless! Have you been in this time so long you've forgotten what it looked like? Remember it! Because when you do you'll realise how small you've made yourself."

Jack stepped back as if Hart had slapped him. He blinked, tears collecting and then falling.

"Jack," Ianto said softly. He laced his fingers with his husband's and said, "You once told me that the Doctor keeps people with him because he's bad at being alone. He needs companions to be his conscience. You're not alone. Let us be yours."

They were all silent for a few minutes as Jack stared at some point on the floor. He closed his eyes and the tears welling there rolled down his cheeks and splattered on the carpet. Without opening his eyes, he said softly, "I don't what to do." 

Ianto said, "I think do."

* * *

 

When Alicia opened her door, Ianto's breath caught. She was in oversized pajamas and her hair was sleep tousled, but Ianto had never seen her looking more lovely. 

"Ianto?" she said, sleepily. She pushed her glasses up her nose and tried to smooth her hair.

"Ianto?" She snapped her fingers a few times in his face. "Earth to Ianto! It's five AM! You're standing in my doorway and I haven't had any coffee yet!"

He blinked a few times. "What? Sorry. Sorry!" He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure," she said, not hiding her annoyance. She turned on the kitchen light and Ianto glimpsed around at the light floral patterns and distressed French country furniture. 

"Nice place," he said.

"Thanks. Coffee? All I've got is a Keurig, and if you turn your coffee snob nose up at it, I'll throw the k-cup at you."

"Whatever you have is fine, thank you," he said, even though he didn't think there was enough cream and sugar in the world to make that sludge drinkable. 

 

"Black, right?" she called out from the kitchen. 

"Cream and sugar, if you have it," he replied.

She set the mug down in front of him along with about six different containers of artificially flavored creamer. Ianto picked one at random and dumped an obscene amount into the coffee.  

"Why are you here? The sun isn't even up yet," she asked. It was adorable the way she curled up onto the chair with her knees up, blowing into her mug. 

He took a polite sip and it was only years of being on his knees for Jack that allowed him to suppress his gag reflex. He patted her knee and said, "I have a very big favor to ask."

 

Alicia's eyes widened and her jaw went slack. She stammered, "Ianto... look... I get... we've had a couple moments... but... I can't... we can't... I won't..." She stood up and said, "You're married! Not to mention the fact you don't even play for my team." 

Ianto stood up, trying to stop the building fit. "Alicia. You don't understand..." 

This reaction was reminding him strongly of Jack. Alicia didn't even hear the comment, she just began to slowly pace back and forth, rambling, "Look, you're cute, Ianto-" 

"Cute?" he muttered, his eyebrows shooting upward.

"-like this amazing combination of smoking hot and sweet. I mean, Joe told me how you and Jack are like the perfect couple and I've seen it with my own eyes here and I could never ever come between something like that-"

Ianto raised his voice louder. "Alicia, you've misunderstood-" 

"-and even if you and Jack have some sort of open marriage-not that that's any of my business-or you'll occasionally have thirds-not any of my business either-I'm not looking to check off threesome on my bucket list. Not that even having a threesome is on my bucket list or that I even have a bucket list." She turned to face him. "Look, it's not that I'm not attracted to you or Jack. You're totally the type of guy I'd trip over to go out with, and Jack is totally the type of guy I'd trip over to take home, especially if I'd had a few drinks, but I-"

"Alicia!" Ianto cried. 

 

She stopped rambling and said, "What?" 

"I'm not here to proposition you," Ianto replied. 

"You're not?" Alicia gasped. She sank down into the chair again.

 

"No," he said. 

Scarlet bloomed over her face and down her neck. Burying her face in her hands, she moaned, "Oh. My. God." 

Before she could work herself up into another fit, Ianto said, "This request is professional." 

Alicia didn't look up. "Professional?" 

Ianto swallowed hard, trying to shove the image in his mind of her, sleep tousled hair and all, sleeping between him and Jack. "Yes." 

"Oh. My. God." Alicia dropped her hands but left her head down. "I think I just reached a whole new level of embarrassment." 

After taking a shaky breath, she asked, "I'm sorry. What do you need me to do?" 

 

Ianto sat back and refused to meet her gaze. "Jack and John are from the future. The fifty-first century." 

"Okay..." 

"You're handling that bit well," he noted. 

"Well, Captain Hart teleported me from DC to Queens and said he'd only seen the Washington Monument in pictures with scorch marks. I'm not an idiot," she said with an eye roll. 

Ianto nodded. "They have foreknowledge of the future, important events that need to happen-" 

She made a disgusted noise. "And you're here to tell me all these abductions need to happen." Angrily, she grabbed her mug and walked into the kitchen.

After dumping some of her coffee, she reached up into one of the cupboards. Ianto's eyebrows went up and she unscrewed the bottle and poured a good measure of rum into her mug. She glared at him and said, "Don't you dare judge me. It's noon somewhere." 

She screwed the cap back onto the bottle and took a large gulp of the coffee. After setting the mug down, she said, "You're asking me to walk away from this? They're experimenting on us, Ianto! On _children_!"

Ianto closed his eyes. "I know."

"What do you expect me to do? Say I can forget the moral and ethical implications of turning a blind eye to the experimentation and what they did to my sister. This isn't about nations, because if ever there was a crime against humanity, this is it!" 

"There are timeline implications here," Ianto said. 

"Timeline implications, what the fuck-pardon my French-is that supposed to mean?" she asked. Then she pointed her finger at him and said, "I swear to fucking God if you say you can't tell me, I will throw this mug at you!" 

Ianto had clearly misjudged Alicia's level of fire. He hesitated for a moment, and said, "I can't tell you, Alicia."

 

True to her word, after chugging the mug's contents, it came hurtling at his head. Ianto barely ducked in time to avoid it. When it hit the wall behind him, it shattered and ceramic shrapnel flew back at him. 

"Do you have any idea what you're asking? How in the name of God am I supposed to stop this? Did you think Director Donovan was exaggerating when he told you my government is ready to drop nuclear weapons because he wasn't! The highest levels of our government are involved with this! Cabinet members! Congressmen! The Joint Chiefs! The President! And what are Director Donovan and I supposed to go to them with? Timelines?!"

Ianto sighed and shifted his weight from one foot to another.

"We can't tell Director Donovan about this, can we?"

He shook his head.

"Oh, well, why didn't you show up, unannounced, on my door step at the fucking ass crack of dawn to ask for something complicated!" she cried.

Ianto winced at the volume, and right on cue, there was a dull thud above them and a shouted, "Keep it down!" 

Alicia tilted her head upwards, "Well I could say the same to you when you're blasting Tom Petty at two in the morning every night! This is one fucking argument in the three years I've lived here. SO SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP!"

She returned her glare back to Ianto who took an involuntary step backwards. "I would have a better chance of winning the Nobel Prize for physics than I would convincing my government to turn a blind eye to all this!" 

Ianto cleared his throat and said, "I have a possible solution, but you're not going to like it." 

"Oh, please, by all means, add something to this conversation that I'm not going to like!" she said, her hands thrown out to her sides. 

Ianto nervously cleared his throat again and said, "We need you to sign an affidavit, stating that you fabricated everything in order to use MiB resources to find your sister." 

Her jaw dropped and she blared, "Have you lost your mind?" 

"Alicia... I know this is a lot to ask..." 

"A lot to ask? A lot to ask?!" She began pacing her living room again. "You're asking me to flush my entire life away! Forget about MiB. I would lose all professional credibility. I'd never get another job in Washington, let alone politics. I'd definitely be disbarred. I'd never work in the legal field again. Forget my job or any mob for a second, admitting to falsifying evidence on this level? Ianto, do you understand, I could go to prison!" 

Ianto stood, "We won't let it get that far."

"How? How can you even remotely promise me that won't happen?" Alicia demanded, hugging herself. 

 

"Ethan will call in a few favors," Ianto insisted.

"But you said we can't know why. For fuck's sake, you won't even tell me why and I'm the one you're asking to commit professional suicide!" Alicia cried. 

"Alicia..." 

"Yeah I know, timelines, you said," she snapped, her voice dripping with scorn. She snorted and muttered, "I'd rather you'd come here to ask me for a threeway at least then I'd be getting laid for the first time in two years." 

She brushed a tear away from her cheek. "Timelines... Is that just some bullshit thing you and Jack yank out of your asses whenever you need a heavy explanation but won't actually explain anything?" 

He walked over to her and put his hands on her upper arms, rubbing gently. "I'm sorry I can't explain fully." 

"You mean you won't," she snapped. She pulled out of his embrace, but he guided her back. 

"That's right, I won't," Ianto replied, embracing the distinction. "I won't go into Jack or John's speech about how foreknowledge of the future is dangerous. What I will tell you is that what I know makes it harder for me to sleep at night. And I won't do that to you." 

"Will it be worth it?" she whispered. 

"Saving the world is always worth it," Ianto replied. 

"I don't want to save the world." Her voice cracked as she said, "I just wanted to save my sister." 


	10. Chapter 10

Alicia's hand was steady as she lifted the paper out of the printer. She lifted her pen, hesitated, then closed her eyes and signed her name. It was crooked, the signature overlapping the printed name below, but she didn't care. After carefully folded the piece of paper, she slipped it into an envelope. She wet the flap and sealed it. Her desk was already cleaned out, everything in a box on the top. Colasanto was giving her a nasty side eye and there were two security personnel waiting to escort her from the building. She was relieved no one was here to arrest her and escort her to jail. 

With her head held high, she walked over to Donovan's door and knocked. 

"Come in!" he shouted. 

Alicia opened the door and walked inside, the two security officers following her.

"That's fine, gentlemen, you can wait outside," Donovan said, dismissing them.

They hesitated.

"Get out," Donovan snapped and they retreated.

Glad the audience was gone, Alicia set the letter onto the blotter in front of the Director. "My official letter of resignation, sir." 

Donovan rested his hand on the envelop and tapped at it with his index finger. Alicia could tell he was debating picking it up and ripping it in two. He didn't look up from the paper as he asked, "Why are you doing this, Alicia?"

She lifted her chin and said, "I was desperate to get Lexi back. I couldn't accept that she'd turned to drugs and was living on the streets-"

Donovan slammed his hand down on the desk. "Will you stop with this stupidity? You really expect me to believe you fabricated evidence?" 

She winced. His accent had thickened and he was swearing. "I signed the affidavit." 

He stood up and said, "You perjured yourself. You know it. I know it." 

"It was all a lie, sir. I'm sorry. I knew it was wrong and I did it anyway," she insisted. She wished he'd stop this, but he hadn't since this whole brouhaha had started. "It had all just gotten out of had. I hadn't expected it to go this far." 

"That's what you said at the Senate hearing, and you lied there too." He shook his head. "You didn't fabricate those girls and their swapped out eyes!"

"I falsified the DNA... the missing persons report... Joe taught me a lot of tricks. I betrayed you, my position, and-"

Donovan roared over her, "You would never do something like this!" 

"I appreciate your faith in me, Director-"

"Stop, just stop! Alicia, please-"

"I am resigning my-"

"I won't let you do this-!"

Shouting, Alicia said, "Accept the resignation." She lowered her voice and with her gaze fixed on a point on the wall behind him, she begged, "Please, Ethan." 

Donovan took the letter and shoved it into his desk drawer. 

Swallowing hard, she said, "Thank you for the opportunity you've given me here, Director. I appreciate everything you've done for me. Your support. Your kindness. You've been like a father to me and I never really had one those. It's.... It's meant a lot to me, sir. Thank you." 

He sat back down and scribbled his personal mobile number onto a post-it note. "Alicia, you need anything-anything at all-you call me. Got it?" 

"I will," she said, taking the number. 

Donovan cleared his throat, "If you need me to testify or speak at your hearing, maybe write a letter-" 

Alicia shook her head, holding back tears. "I'm not fighting the disbarment. I'm not even going to the hearing. I leave for Cardiff the week before."

"How's your mother taking all this?" Donovan asked.

"She won't talk to me," Alicia said, the tears finally falling. "I thought telling her Lexi was dead was the right thing to do, and it was. It brought her some peace, but she won't forgive me moving away. She doesn't understand why I can't stay."

"When does Lexi arrive at Flat Holm?" he asked.

"Tomorrow. I wanted to get her settled there as soon as possible. I'm all she has now."

"Alicia, please. Whatever reason you have for doing this, it's not worth it," Donovan said. 

With pride, she lifted her chin. "On the contrary, Director. I think this is the most important thing I've ever done in my entire life." 

Donovan stood and stepped around his desk. He held out his arms and Alicia walked into them. "Goodbye, Alicia." 

"Goodbye, Ethan," she replied, sadly.

She stepped back out of the embrace and Donovan said, "You make Jack and Ianto take good care of you." 

She smiled and nodded. "They will." 

The minute Ianto had asked her to dump her life into a blender and hit frappe, there'd been no question she'd do it. As she walked out of Donovan's office, disgraced, Alicia should've felt like her life was falling apart, but something whispered to her that it was coming together. 


End file.
